Harry Potter and The Phoenix Burning
by mini-mid
Summary: Harry dies at the same time as Voldemort when the killing curse backfires the second time and is sent back to Kings cross station. Now however Fawkes meets him there and sends him somewhere all together different than the Hogwarts he knows. Not Slash
1. The Burning

Hi all, so first chapter has now been looked over by my brand new Beta: Ensteinium : ) BIG thank you to him.

Phoenix Burning; Chapter One

* * *

This is what could have been, had Harry died at the Battle of Hogwarts a second time that fateful night. If the killing curse had first hit Harry; then rebounded, only to yet again Kill Voldemort.

And now we are once more at the King's Cross station.

It was Dark...

He'd failed.

Well no actually, technically he'd won, Voldemort was dead after all. But dead Voldemort was supposed to mean alive Harry... So in a way, he'd lost.

Sighing deeply, Harry opened his eyes and sighed again.

"Busy place tonight." He said sarcastically to himself, looking around the empty white station.

Spotting the bench under which IT had been before, Harry quickly stood, rushing over and crouching down as he checked to make sure the baby Voldemort was no longer there.

It wasn't.

Straightening up, Harry looked around the station, ears and eyes perked, for any sign of life at all.

All was quiet. He was alone.

Would Professor Dumbledore not come again then? Or was someone else on their way?

... Or was he simply waiting for the train to arrive, he wondered. With nothing to do but wait, Harry sat himself down on the bench and thought.

He thought of the people he'd just left behind at Hogwarts. Would they worry about him having died again or were they expecting him to rise yet once more?

He thought of Neville's brave stand against Voldemort and reminisced back to when the other boy had been eleven.

Remembered all his friends and how they had grown to become who they were.

He wished the war had ended sooner. That he, Harry, had been able to destroy Voldemort before his friends had been caught up in the war. Before anyone else was killed.

Who else had died tonight?

Who had lost a brother, a sister, parents or friends on this night?

Could he have stopped it from happening, he wondered.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there, in the quiet peace, lost in his thoughts, before he realized that he could hear a soft humming in the distance. It was hard to determine what it was, but he was content to simply wait and see as he came closer to him. He wasn't in any kind of hurry after all.

The sound was soothing and he felt it gradually affect the atmosphere around him. It filled his heart with warmth and sweet content, as he sat there and let it engulf him.

There was a sudden flash on the bench next to him and Harry turned to look at what resembled a pile of dried up brown leaves. He sat there staring at the pile for a while, not really sure what he was supposed to do with it.

He soon noticed that the leaves made a rustling sound every now and then, as if something was hiding beneath for shelter. A small spark of curiosity grew in him and he tentatively reached out to brush some of the leaves to the side so that he could see what hid beneath.

His hand made contact with a dry but strangely warm, soft leaf that slowly started to slide from under his fingers on its own volition.

Maybe it wasn't a pile of leaves after all, he decided. It was far too soft and silky to the touch.

His hand, which had been neither cold nor hot, liked the silky feeling of the soft material and so he kept it where it was.

The pile suddenly vibrated, making him remove his hand quickly and a small bald, head poked out slowly from the pile.

"Fawkes?" Harry asked quietly, surprised at the sight beside him.

The phoenix had changed dramatically from the last time he'd seen it. He was thin, scruffy and ancient looking, his colourful plumage gone, a dirty brown replacing it and he looked sickly with his glossy black eyes.

"What happened to you?" He asked, slowly reaching out a hand again, to pet the Headmasters beloved familiar. Fawkes gave a feeble sound of pleasure at the contact so Harry continued to slide his fingers over the bird's feathers.

They sat there in quiet companionship and Harry closed his eyes feeling very much at ease. At least he wasn't alone anymore, he thought.

Behind his closed eyelids, images began to appear.

He could see a younger looking Albus Dumbledore, and felt joy and pleasure at being in the man's presence- Saw him sitting in a plush and comfortable armchair by a merrily roaring fire. The man sat reading, and Harry could feel the Headmasters hands stroking his feathers softly.

Then he was fighting alongside the man and feeling the exhilaration of living in the moment.

Memory after memory was rolling past his eyes, faster and faster, until it slowly came to a halt.

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office at Hogwarts, stroking the soft feathers of the bird seated by his side, one hand whole and healthy and the other withered and black.

"Take care of the boy for me my friend. Stay with him through life's journeys and keep each other company. I do not wish for you to be alone when I leave this earth and the boy will need you as much as I once did. Help him heal as you have helped me." Albus asked him weakly, voice trembling softly.

He felt helpless. Why would his tears not heal this wound? He did not want to go on like this, with out his friend and master...

Harry felt the phoenix resolve to do more. To somehow unite once more with his friend and at the same time protect the youngling left in his care. He would not fail them. He would not sacrifice one for the other.

Opening his eyes slowly, Harry turned to Fawkes as the phoenix gazed back at him with sad eyes. Realizing how private the memory he'd just seen had been, Harry wondered why the phoenix had shared it with him, was he planning on bringing Harry back to his friends before joining Dumbledore in the afterlife or wherever a dead person traveled on to?

"What happens now?" Harry asked, watching with interest as Fawkes slowly made it onto unsteady feet.

The Phoenix cautiously moved closer to Harry and soon they were face to face. Harry looked into the eyes of the bird that had saved his life once. Fawkes spread out his once strong wings and embraced Harry in a tight grip. Harry, who was starting to feel mildly worried, fidgeted amongst the warm feathers and fought to sit still.

Quite worried now, he took a deep breath in, in an attempt to calm himself.

Fawkes chest, which was pressed against his own, was by now starting to get too hot for Harry and he tried to push the bird away gently.

A warm golden light shone out from under the brown feathers and Harry could feel himself get even hotter. Soon the bright light was so blinding that he had to close his eyes in order to protect his eyes.

Fawkes keened softly and Harry felt the air around them vibrate.

A shiver traveled down his spine as the crescendo built and Fawkes gave a last piercing tone.

And then there was nothing.


	2. Lost Boy Wizard

_**Hi all, here is another chapter that my beta **__**Ensteinium**__**has sorted out.**_

**The Arrival**;  
**Chapter Two**

* * *

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, didn't know where he was. But what he did know was that he seemed to have appeared wherever he was, with a bang- a big bang, louder than anything he had ever heard. The ground seemed to shake under his feet, making him wobble and stumble as he tried valiantly to stay upright.

His hearing, which had momentarily disappeared, came back with a vengeance.  
Screams rent the air, sirens blared and there was chaos everywhere.

The air around him seemed to be full of fine dust, making it hard to see even his own hands.  
The dust also made it hard to breath properly, Harry thought, wheezing as he struggled to breathe. He pulled the collar of his top to cover the lower half of his face.

Realizing he had no idea what he was wearing, Harry looked over himself. It looked to be a dirty red jumper, dark jeans and a greyish cloak which covered him. Nothing he himself had bought or inherited, but he couldn't be sure, as the dust still swirling around him made it hard to see.

Where was Fawkes? And how had he arrived wherever he was? It didn't look like Hogwarts,

Harry felt sure of that as he saw shadows moving back and forth in the dust. A red light streaked past him, nearly hitting him as it went by and he heard someone behind him scream in pain.  
Groping blindly for his wand, he came up empty handed. If only he could see, he thought, trying unsuccessfully to look around on the ground for his wand in case he had dropped it.

There was another loud bang and Harry felt the ground move slightly under his feet and bits of what felt like grit rained down on him from above.

There was a sudden gust of wind pushing at the dust and Harry saw a corridor of light open up in front of him, a clear path with walls of swirling dust leading out of the darkness. He moved forwards, hurrying to get out so he could see what was happening around him. Get an idea of where he was.

A tall man stepped into his line of vision and Harry stopped cold.  
"Filthy muggles." The man said disdainfully, brushing off his cloak.

Impossible.

No.

It couldn't be.

This couldn't be true. This couldn't be happening.

He'd killed him.

Laughter could be heard nearby and a man, dressed in Deatheater robes and mask, appeared next to Lord Voldemort.

"They are so easy to kill master! Such pathetic little creatures." Voldemort nodded at the man's words and watched as he fired off spell after spell into the dust cloud with obvious pleasure.

"Soon, we shall lead wizarding kind into a new era." Voldemort proclaimed grandly, looking around in repulsion.  
"These little vermin will know who their masters are." The Deatheater laughed at his master's words and moved forwards out of Harry's vision.

Harry could only stand there in shock.

What happened to Voldemort? He looked so different and seemed to have become _younger_.

Lord Voldemort seemed to realize that he wasn't alone and had a spectator observing him.  
He turned, and their eyes met.

Emerald green versus dark brown with the slightest hint of red.

Something was different, something was wrong, _that, _Harry could tell straight away.

Voldemort looked at him, as he did all others.

The hate, that small spark of worry he always had when looking at Harry, was gone. He didn't seem to know who Harry was. Didn't seem to remember their history.

"Well, well… What have we here? A little boy. Lost and all alone, in the big bad world." Voldemort said, making Harry shiver at the tone.  
"Where is your mother and father, boy? Call them forth why don't you, and let me introduce myself to them." He taunted.  
Harry didn't speak, he was too frozen and shocked to do anything but stare at his adversary. Before he knew it, Voldemort had hit him with the Crutiatus and he fell to his knees.

"Insolence! You shall do as I bid you boy!" Voldemort snapped, before releasing Harry from the excruciating pain he was causing. Harry struggled to stand on trembling limbs. He would not kneel in front of this... _thing._  
"You will bring your parents here, so that I may dispose of them." Voldemort ordered again tauntingly, waving his wand at Harry.

Harry felt calm claim him at last.  
The confusion and fear was gone and the carefree feeling of someone else in full control of his actions was comforting. He knew the spell that was being used on him, knew he had no trouble throwing it off.

Knew what to do.

"No." Harry said quietly.

Voldemort's cruel mask slipped away and Harry saw shock replace it.

"What did you say?" Voldemort asked, shocked at the sight of someone standing up against him- a small child nonetheless.

"So, we have a little wizard among us." He said mockingly, eyeing Harry with equal amounts of disdain and worry. He lifted the wand once more and aimed it again at Harry.

"Imperio! You will do as I have demanded!" He stated forcefully, eyeing Harry intently.

"No." Harry said again, making Voldemort step back slightly in shock.

"You dare...You filthy little boy... You dare defy me!" He shouted, body rigid with rage. How dare anyone go against his word!

Harry, who had been presented with Voldemort's wrath before, stared back at him unimpressed.

The screams that had filled the air around them were growing fewer, and soon the only thing heard in the area were the sirens, still blaring in the background.

All movement seemed to have halted.

"Do you know who you are talking to boy? I am Lord Voldemort! Wizardkind will quakes at the mere mention of my name- already they call me You-Know-Who." He laughed in delight at his own statement, eyeing Harry speculatively.  
"You seem to have some small ability boy." He muttered, nodding to himself.  
"I see it in your eyes and your posture, the same promise I myself had as a child." Harry shivered in repulsion at Voldemorts words.

"I'm nothing like you." He spat watching as his words made Voldemort smile.

"You will obey me and bring your parents here boy." Voldemort ordered again, eyes cold. He lifted his wand once more and Harry steeled himself. He was hit by the Crutiatus and fell to his knees again, gritting his teeth in order to keep the scream of pain from escaping. Voldemort lifted the spell laughing in delight.

"You see that! _That_ is what I am talking about. You boy, you have that something extra within yourself." Voldemort said thoughtfully.  
"Bring me your parents and I may let you live." He offered grandly.

"I can't bring you my parents," Harry said finally, his voice carrying in the silence.  
"Because they are already dead." Harry finished.

At this, Voldemort laughed, eyeing Harry with a strange glint in his eyes. His laughter was echoed by others, who hid in the slowly settling dust cloud.  
"Dead? How convenient. Who am I to keep a child from his beloved parents?" Voldemort asked, lifting his wand once more, this time not to hit him with the Imperius curse or the crutiatus, Harry was sure, but with something far deadlier.

"HOLD YOUR WANDS!" A voice shouted out suddenly from behind Harry.  
There were several loud cracks indicating the arrival of many wizards, apparating in.

Voldemort glanced around sneering at the interruption, then returned his gaze to meet Harry's green eyes.

"I shall spare you this time. But be assured," He paused dramatically  
"That should we meet again, _boy_, you will not be as fortunate as today." Voldemort sneered, before disapparating with a crack.

"Morsmorde!" Someone shouted as more cracks were heard around them, which Harry assumed meant the Deatheaters had left.

Pandemonium erupted all around.

The screaming for help started again, there were several more apparitions before finally, the cloud of dust surrounding them was gone.

Everywhere Harry looked seemed to hold devastation. Houses lay crumpled with bricks spread out all over the street and cars looked as if giant hands had crushed them like paper balls before tossing them aside. There were bodies of people lying everywhere, some no longer moving, others convulsing in pain.

High above them in the sky, a huge vaporous skull had appeared, a snake in the place of a tongue.

Harry simply stood there motionless, and stared. He didn't notice the wizards rushing about, neither did he notice the people staring and pointing their fingers at him.

"Are you hurt boy?" Harry turned at the soft voice coming from beside him.  
A dusty looking Auror stood, gazing at him with a mixture of concern, shock and a small amount of awe.

Harry shook his head slowly. He felt fine actually. Standing next to the Auror made Harry realize something very important however- he had shrunk. Shrunk so much, that he barely even reached the other man's shoulders.

"Auror Chalmers! Get the boy away from here! It's no place for a young child. He needs to be checked over by a healer and his family notified." Another Auror ordered briskly. Harry turned in shock at the familiar voice.

Bartemius Crouch. A very _young_ Bartemius Crouch.

Harry didn't have time to question this, as the man next to him nodded quickly before turning back to Harry.  
"Right. I'll take you to St. Mungos first. We'll be apparating." The Auror warned, before grabbing hold of Harry's shoulder firmly, a familiar wrenching sensation assaulting Harry. And with a pop, they were gone.

They appeared in a busy ward. The Healers nearby jolted slightly at the sight of them.

"There was another attack. More patients will be arriving shortly. The boy needs a once over, says he's fine." Auror Chalmers said quickly to the nearest Healer. Harry and his Auror seemed to be the first casualties having arrived there.

"I think I'll be the judge of a patient's health, thank you." The healer snapped, coming closer and making the Auror stiffen at his tone. Harry was dragged over to a bed and, after having the Healer clean the dirt away, the man began muttering charms over him, with the Auror posted nearby.

"He is NOT fine! He is in _shock_ and has _extreme muscle tenderness_! A muscle relaxant and a calming potion should sort him out." The Healer announced, glancing toward the still present Auror, who looked relieved. The healer summoned two vials and thrust them at Harry. Looking at the angry healer, he gulped them down quickly. His trembling legs settled after the first potion and he felt somewhat more at ease after draining the second.

"Well we'll be needing the bed for _actually injured_ people. He's good enough to leave." The Auror snapped. Another case apparated in and the Healer abandoned Harry into the Auror's care, without further ado.  
"Come on, let's get going." The Auror said kindly, sending the rather brisk Healer a glare.  
He then grabbed Harry's shoulder gently, and they made it out of the ward, which was rapidly filling up.

"I'm Ben Chalmers by the way. I work as an Auror." The man said, looking down at Harry with piercing blue eyes.

"... Harry." Harry answered quietly, thinking it strange that nobody seemed to have recognized him yet.

"I heard you...With the Dark Lord...Voldemort...Whatever he calls himself." Ben said, shuddering slightly at the mention of the Dark Lords name. Harry was impressed the man could say it at all. Not many wizards he'd met dared.

"What you did was pure stupidity. That man is the leader of a group of people that have hurt many people. How you managed to fight the Imperius curse I don't know." Here he took a breath and glanced down at Harry again in wonder.  
"A small thing like you..." He muttered to himself, shaking his head. Harry noticed that they had made it to the apparition point.  
"We're apparating again- ministry of magic this time." Auror Ben Chalmers said, before they disappeared with another pop.

They appeared in the Ministry Atrium and Harry had barely glanced around before being dragged over toward one of the lifts. They caught an empty one and were soon moving upwards.

"I'm sorry about your parents Harry." Ben said quietly, squeezing Harrys shoulder gently in comfort.

"... It's ok. They died when I was a baby. I can't really remember them much." Harry said softly, not wanting to lie to the Auror. Ben looked a bit relieved at his words.

"What in the world were you doing there Harry?" He asked after a moment. A disembodied woman's voice interrupted, however, saving Harry from giving an immediate answer.

"Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

Auror Ben led him out of the lift and through a corridor, leading them into a large room filled with cubicles, many of which were empty.

"Er, I'm not sure, but I think I might be lost." Harry answered finally as he was motioned to sit down on a chair in one of the cubicles.

"Where are you living at the moment? I'll contact your relatives. They must be worried sick." Ben exclaimed, sitting down heavily in his own chair behind a messy desk as he dragged a hand through his dusty hair tiredly, missing Harry's slightly panicked look.

"Er, I don't know." Harry finally answered at a loss. He didn't know anything at the moment really.

Ben looked up and stared at Harry for a moment.  
"You don't know where you're living?" He asked, looking worried.  
"I thought the healer said you were fine." He muttered crossly.

Harry was again saved from answering, by the arrival of an owl.

It swooped into the cubicle and dropped a letter into Harry's lap before perching on the cubicle wall.

Both he and the Auror looked at it in surprise before turning their eyes back to the letter.

Harry recognized the writing on the outside immediately and judging by the Ben's snort, he too had a good idea where it came from.

Written in green Ink the writing spelled out:

_Mr H. Potter  
Cubicle 27  
Department of Magical Law Enforcement  
Ministry of Magic  
London_

Harry ripped open the envelope feeling a desperate need to see what it said. It might be from McGonagall, explaining what on earth was going on he thought. But he could only read the contents in disbelief.

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY _

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) _

_Dear Mr. Potter, _

_We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. _

_Yours sincerely, _

_Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress _

"You look surprised Harry." Ben said, smiling at Harry from across the table, after allowing Harry time to read the first page.  
"They've left it a tad late seeing as it's the 31st today." Ben commented, looking amused at the shocked expression on Harry's face.

Harry stared at the Auror in silence, confused. What on earth was going on?

"Well then, Mr Potter, is it?" Ben asked eyeing the back of the envelope.

Harry ignored him in favour of staring blankly at the letter, turning it over just in case there was an explanation he'd missed somewhere on the paper.

The Auror shrugged and leaned forwards.  
"No worries! I'll just do a quick check shall I?" He smartly tapped his wand on Harry's head, muttering an incantation over a piece of paper.

"Yes yes, here we are. Magical Birth certificate for Harry James Potter. Born on the 31st of July 1960, Parents deceased, closest living blood relatives: Charlus and Dorea Potter. Potter Manor, Godric's Hollow."

Harry snapped out of his daze.  
"Who? Where? When?" He asked. He was sure he didn't know anything about any blood relatives other than the Dursleys and he was certainly not born in the sixties. He hadn't heard of any other Potters _period_.  
"Godric's Hollow?" He asked, finally giving the Auror his full attention.

"Didn't know about them eh?" Ben asked. Harry shook his head mutely.  
"Where have you been living then? In the muggle world?" Ben asked curiously.

Harry nodded this time.

The Auror looked down on the paper he'd produced and read it in more detail before nodding to himself.  
"Muggle orphanage, eh? That's some tough stuff kid... St Dursleys... I've never heard of it. I bet the Potters didn't know about you when your folks died." He said, prompting Harry to eye him confoundedly. What orphanage?

"They'll probably be very happy to take you in. A wizard should be in with his own kind after all. No disrespect meant to the muggles, but they simply have no clue, am I right?" Ben spoke casually.  
"Right, well, we'll have to get a hold of the child protection services and your relatives." Ben muttered quietly.

Harry however did not reply and simply stared at the papers on the table. St. Dursleys? Where on earth were they getting this information from, Harry wondered, feeling very perplexed.

"Oi, Martin!" Ben called out suddenly, startling Harry out of his dazed reverie. Another Auror walked up carrying a brown folder.

"Do you mind taking my new friend Harry here, over to Nelly for some sweets? According to this paper here, it's his birthday today, and it hasn't been the greatest day so far... I also need to make a few floo calls." Ben said, waving the paper around.

The other Auror smiled, looking oddly pleased at the interruption.

"Perfect timing, I've got a chocolate craving coming on anyway. Come on then- Harry was it? Let's go clear her out." He gave Harry a good-humoured pat on the back and led the way toward a middle aged woman standing by a food cart.

Harry turned to look back at the cubicle and saw Auror Ben walking away, towards one of many fireplaces in the room before Ben bent down to floo whoever he had meant earlier.

By the time Harry and Auror Martin, "Call me Marty", had made it back to the small cubicle, it was occupied by two more individuals apart from Ben. Harry, who had been stuffed to the brim with sweets felt as if it had all suddenly turned to lead in his stomach.

Leading him over to the cubicle door, Marty left him with a soft pat on the shoulder before marching off to continue with his work.

"Here we are!" Auror Ben exclaimed at the sight of Harry, making the woman closest to the boy turn.

Harry could see a man standing at the back of the compartment, but the woman's fluffy curls were hiding him from view.

"This is Harry Potter, the young man I was just telling you both about." Ben said making Harry feel self conscious, not that the woman or anyone else for that matter, seemed to have recognised him so far.

"Harry this is Anna Kindle, and she's going to help us decide where you'll be living from now on." Ben said, motioning at the young woman before him.

She smiled gently and Harry thought he'd never seen such a beautiful girl before. She looked like an angel with her curly blond hair flying around her face like a halo.  
"Hello dear, I'm so sorry to hear that you are in need of our services. It must be awfully frightening for you?" She asked in a soft voice.

"I'm fine thanks." Harry mumbled, blushing slightly. She seemed kind, if not a bit condescending, he thought.

"And this, behind Anna, is Charlus Potter." Ben introduced. An older gentleman stepped forward and Harry gasped.

The man had dark unruly hair with a few streaks of greys and soft brown eyes.  
He looked so much like his father, only a lot older than in his pictures, Harry thought dizzily.

"I'm not quite sure how you two are related but as he has appeared as your magical guardian on your certificate, we can safely assume you are related in some way." Ben said looking from one Potter to the other.

"Well I think it's pretty obvious that we're related! Just look at the boy. Why if it wasn't for your eyes, young man, I'd say you were my own son!" Mr. Potter exclaimed before holding out his hand for Harry to shake.  
"Nice to meet you young Harry." He said smiling brightly.

"Thank you Mr. Potter." Harry stammered, grasping the older mans hand with his own.

"Please, call me Charlus. I have to keep young you know." He said winking, whilst pulling his fingers through his hair. Meanwhile Harry simply blinked in astonishment. A Potter... A real live Potter, right in front of him.  
"So I see that you have received your Hogwarts invitation today? Bit late if you ask me, James got his earlier in the summer! It'll be his first year too." Mr Potter said reassuringly, pointing at the Hogwarts letter still on the table.

Harry's head snapped up so fast, he was surprised it didn't break clean off as he looked up at the man.

"My son, James, is also eleven." Charlus said, noticing Harry's wide-eyed stare.  
"I'm sure you'll have a lot on common."

Harry's head was spinning with information.

James Potter, the piece of paper saying that he, Harry, was born in 1960, St. Dursley's. What were the odds if it all being a coincidence.

"So! Ben was telling us it's your Birthday today Harry. Congratulations." Charlus smiled, eyeing Harry with a slightly worried look at the lack of response he was receiving.

Ben appeared to be trying to get the man's attention, but was failing spectacularly, as he ploughed on, focused fully on Harry.

"Have you managed to get any cake yet?" He asked with a smile.

Harry shook his head, feeling tongue-tied. Could Fawkes have done this? Did he have such a power? Could the man in front of him actually be his grandfather? Harry lost himself in his wild speculations for a moment.

"Well what do you think Harry? Would you like to move in with Mr. Potter and his family?" Miss Kindle asked gently.

Harry stared at her, confused, as he'd obviously missed a bit of the conversation.

"Erm...sure." He said finally, making Charlus grin.  
"Dorea and James will be delighted. We always wanted more children and James... Well, James always wanted a brother to play with." Harold said patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry forced a smile, feeling slightly overwhelmed by it all.

"It will probably take a while for it all to sink in Harry. I suggest you take it one day at the time." Miss Kindle said kindly, giving Charlus a stern look.  
"You don't know them yet, but I can tell that you'll be well taken cared of. If you at any point need someone to talk to Harry, I want you to know that I'm here." She looked Harry in the eye ignoring the others and handed him a small card.  
"That's my floo address and it's always open." Harry blushed and nodded, making her smile.

"Well then, if I could have you both sign the papers and we'll get Harry off safely to his new home." Ben said cheerfully, patting the young time-traveler's shoulder.  
"Ah, I love happy endings." He said, smiling happily.

Miss Kindle nodded and patted Harry's cheek gently.

"You take care now. And stay safe." Harry blushed yet again and nodded before looking back up at Charlus. He couldn't believe this. How had it all happened, he wondered.

"Right, do you want to go the orphanage and get anything or head on home?" Charlus asked, looking at him expectantly.

"Er... I don't really have anything." Harry mumbled. He had no clue where any orphanages were, he didn't think there actually was a st. Dursleys.

"Ah... well, don't worry! You can share with James until we get a chance to go to Diagon Alley." The father said lightly.

"Alright Harry, I wish you all the best, both with your new family and with Hogwarts. Mr Potter, I shall be seeing you later today." Ben said looking very pleased with himself.

"Thank you... for everything... um... yes." Harry stammered. He couldn't believe it, he was going home with what could possibly be his grandfather.

Ben leaned forwards, smiling, and ruffled Harry's hair playfully.

"You're welcome Harry- and do try to stay away from evil Dark Lords now, hm?" He said, only half jokingly. Charlus stiffened and gave Ben a searching look before putting a hand on Harry's shoulder.

Ben gave a slight shake of his head and waved them off as they left the Ministry behind.

* * *

_**Hope you like the chapter. You will notice that Mr and Mrs Potters first names will be different in the following chapters as I didn't know their real names. The names will change as my Beta works through the next chapters. Take care. Mina**_


	3. I'm Coming Home

Third Chapter, hope you liked the others. Mina

I'm Coming home

* * *

Harry coughed as he stumbled out of the fireplace he and Charlus had used to floo to Potter Manor. His shrinking size seemed to have messed with his balance, not that it had been that good to start with when it came to using the floo. He took a moment to look around the room he'd appeared into.

It was a large kitchen with cold marbled floor, cream coloured walls and lots of big wooden cabinets. A large rustic wooden table stood in the centre of the room. It was laden with pots of different herbs, cauldrons of varying sizes and several glass jars containing goodness knew.

He could hear music playing softly and spotted a wireless radio on a shelf next to a pair of double doors leading out onto a courtyard. He could see a table and chairs made out of metal standing in the centre surrounded by rose bushes heaving with blooms of all colours.

Hanging on the wall next to him was a picture of a boy Harry's age. A boy who looked just like Harry if not for the colour brown of his eyes behind his glasses.

"That's our James. Like peas in a pod the two of you. Amazing really." Charlus said in wonder staring between Harry and the picture. Harry nodded shakily, they really did look remarkably similar.

"He's at a tutor at the moment but I'll be picking him up in about an hour. I'm sure you'll get on just fine." Charlus said.

"A magic's tutor?" Harry asked, wondering if that was what purebloods and children living in the magical world did before attending Hogwarts.

"Yes just to learn the basics really, you'll be able to go as well if you want. It's only for a few hours in the afternoon, so you won't miss to much of the summer." Charlus said smiling.

"So is this what all wizards do?" Harry asked, thinking of how Ron hadn't known any spells the first time he'd tried magic on the train.

"Oh no, but we believe that you need a good foundation to build knowledge on." Harry nodded at Charlus words to show that he understood.

"Charlus? Is that you? How did it go? Is he coming over?" Both Harry and Charlus turned to face the open courtyard doors at the sound of a woman's voice. And a moment later she entered the kitchen, whilst pulling off a pair of thick gardening gloves.

"My goodness!" She exclaimed putting a hand over her heart at the sight of Harry.  
"You could be James's twin." She eyed Harry curiously.

He shifted uncomfortably, he could feel himself getting stuck in the mud, lying never worked Harry had found. But how do you tell someone _this_ truth and not get thrown into st Mungos or Azkaban for that matter? He wondered.

"Well, I have been busy I'll tell you. I set up the room next to James, it's not the largest but still a good size. Well sort out colours later." She said quickly as she smiled down at Harry.

"Ah, Harry this is my lovely wife Dorea. She is as you can tell very excited to have you here." Charlus smiled at his blushing wife.

"Oh how rude of me. It was just the sight of you that threw me for a moment, so like James." She said smoothing down her robes.

"Well, would you like to see your room? Charlus will soon have to collect James from his tutor." Dorea said waving Harry out of the kitchen and into an airy hallway.

Harry glanced in awe at the banister that snaked its way down the stairs. Charlus burst into loud laughter at the look on his face.

"I know that look and you'd better get any thoughts of sliding down on the banisters out of your head right away boy. Just ask James what the punishment for that is." He said still smiling. Harry ducked his head, the thought had passed his mind after all.

"Oh surely you'll do none of the sort dear? It can't be possible for you to take after James in that aspect as well." Dorea groaned, eyeing him in horror. Harry wondered just what his dad had done during the short eleven years he'd had so far, to put that look on his mothers face.

"The boy is a Potter dear, he'll be nothing but a handful I'm sure." Charlus said chuckling.

"Boys will be boys after all." He added as if that made a difference. His wife rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but having two Potter boys will be more than a handful I'll say. And if he's anything like James…" She trailed of shuddering in mock horror and then gave a small giggle at Charlus wince.

"I'll try and be good." Harry injected, smiling, they were funny his grandparent, he thought.

Dorea laughed at his words and led him up the stairs to show him his new room. Charlus walked back towards the kitchen after giving Harry a final wave.

Harry sat on the bed in his room, looking around in awe. His room was twice the size of Dudley's. The bed he was seated on was a four-poster just like the ones at Hogwart's. Dorea had filled two shelves in the bookcase that stood against one of the walls and he also had a large desk piled with stationary ready to be used. All in all this was the best room Harry had ever had.

He still couldn't quite believe he was here. He was in the past, at Potter Manor and most importantly soon about to meet his father. After all he had gone through during his lifetime, it felt as if he was finally given his reward.

Yes Voldemort was alive, No Harry was not the boy-who-lived. Well he didn't think he was. The prophecy hadn't been made yet after all. And his scar hadn't hurt when he'd been near Voldemort earlier. He lifted his hand to trace it, but couldn't feel the tell tale lightening bolt anywhere just smooth skin. He quickly jumped of the bed and hurried into the hallway to look for a bathroom with a mirror.

"Are you alright Harry?" Dorea asked from behind him, making him turn guiltily.

"Um…well I was just…er…where is the bathroom please?" He stammered.

"Oh dear, I'm ever so sorry Harry I should have showed you right away. Here we go, two doors down from your room." She held the door open for him.  
"Charlus has left to get James so they shouldn't be long now. I'll call you down when they've arrived and we'll have some food." She said making Harry felt as if he'd swallowed a big rock.

He nodded before closing the door so that he could have some privacy. He was going to meet his dad. He sat down on the edge of the bathtub and just breathed. He had to get a grip, it wouldn't be good to freak his dad out the first time they met. But boy was this going to be hard.

What if they didn't get on? Harry pulled a hand through his hair and buried his face in his hands. Who was he trying to kid, nobody would believe that he was eleven and they would throw him into Azkaban for messing with time.  
His heart was beating wildly, this wasn't going to work he was sure of it.

A sudden flash from in front of his hands startled him so badly he tumbled backwards into the empty tub. He looked up in surprise at the small bald Fawkes sitting in the sink.  
"Fawkes? How did you? What did you?" He stuttered, at a loss for words.

"What in Merlin's name did you do?" He finally asked, pulling himself out of the bath. Fawkes gave a small innocent chirrup and simply gazed at Harry.

"Well? Shouldn't you be with Dumbledore?" Harry asked, moving forwards so that he could scoop Fawkes away from the sink. Fawkes trilled in happiness at being handled and Harry felt a shiver go up his spine.

"Why are you here and not with Dumbledore." He asked again. Fawkes chirped and snuggled into Harry's hands. Harry got the impression Fawkes was exactly where he wanted to be.

"What about the headmaster?" Harry asked feeling guilty, he could not steal Dumbledore's pet phoenix.

Fawkes gazed up at him and Harry got the mental image that a bigger Fawkes was with the professor already.

No sooner had the thought appeared before Fawkes appeared in to the bathroom a second time. Harry looked between the large beautiful Fawkes and the scrawny bald Fawkes in his hands.

"Wow, two of you. Er…won't it be strange to have two Fawkes the phoenixes?" He finally asked feeling slightly afraid at the twin looks he received from the birds. Big Fawkes flapped his wings once as if to say _I am Fawkes here. _The smaller bird in Harry's hands gave a small squawk making Harry look down.

"So, you're staying with me?" Harry asked hoarsely, he lifted his hands and held Fawkes against his cheek. Merlin it felt good to have someone who knew who he was, someone who knew everything. Yes it was a bird, but Harry didn't feel picky at the moment.

Big Fawkes scooted closer and rubbed his head against Harry's hand before disappearing in a flash of gold, leaving Harry and the baby bird alone in the bathroom.

"So…what do I call you?" Harry asked at last. He felt so much happier as if a cloud had lifted.

He unlocked the bathroom door and carried the bird into his new room, scar forgotten for the moment.

Placing him on one of the pillows on his bed he started stroking the short stubby feathers that covered the birds body.

He tried to think of something, anything that would sound good as a phoenix name.

"Er…any ideas?" Harry asked the bird after a long silence. He looked more carefully at the bird and realised that he'd fallen asleep.

"Right maybe…er no…it should be something to do with fire or heat." He muttered to himself. He looked around his new room and carefully clambered of the bed. Maybe one of the books in the bookcase would have a good name.

He dragged a finger along the backs, before with a gasp pulled one of them out quickly.

He held _The Tales of Beedle the Bard _in his hands. What were the odds of finding this book here? Then again, what had Ron said? That everyone knew that they were old children's stories. Merlin he missed Ron and Hermione. But the opportunity to meet his family, well it was just too much to give up. And really they would come along at some point, he'd just be a lot older than them.

He moved back to the bed and opened the book on a random page, it happened to be about the three brothers. The name Ignotus Peverell jumped into his mind and he turned to glance at his new companion.

Iggy, Harry thought. Ignotus sounded a bit like ignite, and it kind of fitted. He was a phoenix after all,he cheated death every time he had a burning day. Iggy because it sounded cool and Dumbledore would get the whole Peverell thing otherwise.

"Harry dear! James and Charlus have returned why don't you come down and meet them." Harry startled at the call from down stairs. His dad was here, oh Merlin what was he to do? Baby Iggy woke and gave a groggy, questioning squawk.

"Sorry, it's my dad. He's here." Harry whispered panicked. Iggy puffed at his hand as if to say get moving and Harry gave the bird a last pat before running down. He felt clammy as he neared the kitchen door, he could hear voices.

"Ah Harry. This is James and James this is Harry." Charlus introduced when Harry walked in, Charlus was looking from one boy to the other.

"Amazing! Like twins you are." He said looking as if he'd been hit by a bludger.

"Neat!" James said delighted making Harry grin. He looked at his father and felt near to bursting with nerves.

"So do you like Quidditch?" James asked.

"Yeah! Who doesn't?" Harry asked wiping his sweaty hands on his trousers, he could do this he thought everything would be fine.

"Did you read that they won't allow us to bring our brooms to school? I wanted to write and complain but dad says there's no use. Rules are rules and all that." James said rolling his eyes.

"Rules are there for a reason James." His mother chided behind them making James roll his eyes again and Harry jump slightly. He'd all but forgotten about anyone else being in the room.

"Right, dinner in five minutes. Wash your hands!" She called after them as James pulled Harry out of the kitchen and through the double doors and outside.

"You need to see my broom, mum and dad got it as a well done on getting into Hogwarts, it's really fast. There is a new broom out already, I really want it. Do you have a broom?" He asked, before suddenly looking sheepish.

"Sorry dad told me about you living in an orphanage and all. You can share mine if you want? But I'm sure dad won't mind getting you a broom as well. How else will we be able to play each other?" Harry nodded slightly overwhelmed. James was dragging him quickly towards a small Quidditch pitch. A shed stood to the side and that's where James was headed. He opened the door and pulled out a shiny broom, which he held out proudly.

"It's a Nimbus 1001, not as good as the new Nimbus 1500 but I guess it'll do till I get the new one." He said.

"James Potter it is dinner time! Get yourself inside this instance!" Dorea called from the house.

"Oh, Charlus for goodness sake don't you start as well!" She called as Charlus left the house and walked over towards them.

"Ah showing of the broom my boy. We'll have to get one for you as well Harry. No sense in having just the one broom for my two boys." He said to both James and Harry's delight.

"See I told you!" James crowed jumping up and down.

"Thank you sir." Harry said quietly, he really couldn't wait until he could fly again. James returned his broom into the shed and sprinted ahead to the house so that he could tell his mother the good news. Charlus clasped Harry's shoulder lightly and slowly started leading him back to the house.

"How are you feeling Harry? Must be a bit strange coming over here and having a day like today. James was mighty excited when I told him we had an addition to the family." Charlus said smiling.

"Dorea and I tried for children a long time, we had all but given up the hope of children when James finally arrived. He felt like a long awaited gift and now we have you as well." He said looking down at Harry fondly.

"I know that the day hasn't been the best Harry, but I can't help but feel grateful. We wouldn't have known you existed without the excitement and it's clear that you're a Potter." Harry blushed.

"Potters take care of their own." Charlus added. They stepped into the kitchen and Harold led Harry through into the dining room, which Harry hadn't seen yet

James was seated by the table wolfing down food whilst Dorea sat waiting for them.

"Sit 'ere 'arry." James ordered mouth full of food.

"James swallow before speaking, please." His mother said as she handed Harry a plate of roast chicken and mash. They continued their meal in similar fashion. James doing most of the talking. After they'd finished James ran out of the room calling for Harry to follow.

"Thank you for the food, it was really nice." Harry said pushing his chair in. He saw the adults exchange looks and felt as if he'd done something wrong.

"May I leave the table, please?" He asked. Dorea nodded and he quickly left the room wondering what he'd done wrong. James was waiting impatiently at the top of the stairs.

"What took you so long? Come on I want to show you my collection of famous wizards cards! I have loads, dad buys me chocolate frogs all the time. I have some spares if you want some?" He said leading Harry to the room next to his own.

Harry looked around in wonder at the mess. There were toys everywhere, most of them broken. James didn't seem to think his room was anything out of the ordinary and kicked things out of the way as he hurried towards his desk.

"Here see!" He let all of his cards fall to the floor and sat down amid all the toys scattered around them. Harry moved some of the mess out of the way before carefully sitting down to look through the biggest collection of chocolate cards he'd ever seen.

After what felt like hours later, Harry was back in his room again pulling on a pair of James's pyjama bottoms. He spotted Iggy awake on the bed and moved closer.

"Hi Iggy." Harry said stroking the phoenix's' bald head. Iggy gave a small surprised chirp.

"Iggy after Ignotus Peverell one of the brothers hiding from death." Harry explained pulling the top over his head. When he could see again he saw Iggy nodding and smiled releived.

"You like it." He said happily. Iggy opened his mouth looking very much like a baby bird, and chirped. Harry realised he might be hungry.

"Er…what do you eat?" He asked the bird. The thought _grapes _appeared suddenly making Harry eye Iggy suspiciously.

There was a sudden knock on his door and Harry jumped. Before he had the chance of hiding his new pet the door opened and Dorea entered carrying a pile of clothes.

"I went through James's wardrobe and he's happy to lend you these until we go…" She dropped the pile onto the floor and gasped at the sight of Iggy held protectively in Harry's arms.

"This is Iggy." Harry finally said into the long silence. Dorea shook her head once as if to clear it and stepped closer.

"Harry I think that's a phoenix." She said quietly, eyeing Iggy.

"Yes he's mine." Harry answered, stroking the bird in his arms. Iggy opened his mouth again and made a bobbing movement.

"Er…he's kind of hungry, you wouldn't have any grapes he could eat?" Harry asked, making Dorea stare.

"Grapes? Yes of course. _Tammy_." She called making a small houself appear.

"Could you please bring the baby phoenix some grapes?" She asked. The houself snapped her fingers and a small bowl of red and green grapes popped into view on Harry's desk.

"Would mistress like a perch for baby phoenix?" The elf asked looking up at Dorea who nodded, still looking shocked. There was another knock and Harold entered.

"Well, James is finally settled, amid promises of shopping tomorrow. So that's what…Great Merlin is that a phoenix!" Charlus exclaimed pointing at Harry. There was a small thud and James came running in, he stopped next to his parents and looked from the bird to Harry with big eyes.

Harry cleared his throat feeling slightly uncomfortable with all the attention. He turned and walked over to the desk where he placed Iggy who waddled over to the bowl and swallowed a whole grape before squawking happily.

"This is Iggy. He's my friend. Is it alright if I keep him?" Harry asked, knowing there was no way he'd give the bird up. Both Charlus and Dorea nodded making Harry give a sigh of relief.

"Can I have a phoenix too?" James asked looking at his parents.

"No James, they're very rare. I don't think I've ever heard of any being sold. They just appear." Charlus said eyeing Harry. James pouted before shrugging.

"He keeps me company." Harry said quietly stroking the red feathers softly. James moved nearer and soon stood shoulder to shoulder with Harry eyeing Iggy curiously.

"Well you're blessed to have such a special friend Harry." Dorea said finally. She looked at James who'd gotten bored with the still eating phoenix and who was now looking around Harry's empty room in horror.

"You can have some of my toys tomorrow Harry, it's freakishly clean in here." He shuddered. Dorea narrowed her eyes at him.

"It's very nice and neat, just like a room should look like. Yours looks like a niffler was set lose." She commentated and flicking her wand once she sent the pile of clothes off the floor onto a chair whilst herding him out of the room.

"Bed James." She said when he looked ready to launch into a speech.

"Can I have a dragon?" Harry heard him ask before they disappeared into James's room. Charlus stepped closer to Harry's desk and eyed Iggy with wonder.

"I've never actually seen a phoenix in real life." He said impressed.

"I know Albus Dumbledore, your headmaster has one. But I've never meet it." He said.

"Well you should probably get into bed as well, busy day tomorrow. Lots to buy! Wands, clothes, school things and a new broom." He smiled clearly excited at the prospect.

Harry lifted the now full phoenix up on his perch and said thank you for the water bowl Charlus conjured for him, before getting into bed.

He yawned as he pulled his glasses off, placing them on the small table next to his bed. He felt a tug in his chest when Charlus ruffled his hair gently.

"Sleep well Harry." Charlus said before dimming the light in the room and exiting.

"Night." Harry whispered back, before rolling over and falling deep asleep.

_So, what do you think? Good? Review please. Mina_


	4. Phoenix and Holly

Chapter four

* * *

Harry didn't want to open his eyes the next morning, he'd had the best dream ever.

"Harry! Wake up we're getting your wand today!" James screamed making Harry shoot out of bed. Unfortunately he was tangled in his sheets and ended up in a tangled mess on the floor. James who'd been eyeing him in concern burst into laughter.

"Wow that was so cool!" He exclaimed after getting a hold of himself. He seemed to think nothing of Harry's glare.

"That is not the way to wake people." Harry said sternly trying to unwrap himself from his cocoon. James stated pulling on the sheet as well which only seemed to tie it tighter around the squirming Harry. Harry could hear Iggy making suspicious sounds and hoped the bird wasn't laughing.

"Grapes." Was all it took to get silence from that side of the room.

"But we're going shopping!" James exclaimed, giving up on the sheet and seating himself on Harry's bed. He glanced at the phoenix that sat quietly observing them.

"I know, your dad told me yesterday." Harry answered absentmindedly finally lose from his bindings.

"I bet I'll get a present." James said happily bouncing on Harry's bed.

"I'll ask dad for the new Nimbus, you don't mind having my other one do you? I also want an animal, I wish I could get a phoenix like you. Oh and I want some more stuff from Zonko's, we only got a few things when I got my wand. I can't wait to prank the muggleborn's, they're going to get so scared. Can you imagine not knowing anything about magic or Hogwarts?" James laughed.

Harry stared at James in surprise, no way did his dad sound slightly like Draco Malfoy.

"How would you feel if you went into the muggle world for the first time and someone pranked you?" Harry asked making James eye him in surprise.

"Only for a joke Harry I don't mind muggleborn's, really. They're just weird you know?" James said matter of fact.

"I mean how can you not know that you can do magic? Don't they notice all the accidental stuff that happens?" James asked.

"Well magic is kind of weird for someone who doesn't know it exists, people just explain it away as something that just happened. Or the reversal squad takes away your memory." Harry answered. James was by now staring at Harry as if he'd grown another head.

"What's a reversal squad?" He asked looking puzzled. There was a knock on the door and Charlus poked his head round the door.

"Right you two, ready for some breakfast? We'll be leaving soon, we don't want to get stuck in the rush. Harry why don't you pull on a set of robes before coming down." Harry nodded and stood from his seated position on the floor.

James followed his father out of the room and Harry could hear him ask what a reversal squad was before his door shut and he was left in peace. Harry didn't know what to feel about James's comments on muggleborn's, was it just that he hadn't met any before or did he really feel that they were strange?

After flooing into Gringotts and withdrawing some money they were off on their shopping expedition. James who hadn't stopped whining about a broom since breakfast was pouting about Harry needing clothes and supplies before even thinking about stepping into a Quidditch shop.

"But I know which one I want it won't take us that long to just go in and get it. Or I could go with dad and you could take Harry." He whined at his mum.

"James Potter! We are going as a family, oh why can't you behave like Harry?" Dorea snapped after having been pushed as far as she would go it seemed. James looked at his father who didn't look too happy about the whining either and finally at the silent Harry.

"I really don't mind if we go and look at the broom first." Harry finally said, not wanting James to feel left out. They were after all buying him, Harry a lot of things. Maybe a new broom for James wasn't so wrong.

"We are getting your things first Harry. And that is final!" Dorea snapped angrily looking at James. James shrugged but looked slightly appeased at Harry taking his side in the matter.

The shopping didn't take that long in the end. James ended up with some more robes, joke books, several packets of chocolate frogs and an owl (We had been talking about it after all) and was looking happy as he walked along the road paging one of his new books. Harry had asked if he might have a book on potions as he'd seen one that explained in easy terms the art of potions making. He was going to be slightly bored with the curriculum so why not work on the things he was bad at, potions being his weak point.

Harry had noticed that Dorea kept glancing at him every now and then and wondered if he'd done something wrong or suspicious. She was at the moment trying to smooth down his hair, which Harry knew was impossible.

"Worse than James which is saying something." She muttered.

"Can I get my broom now?" James asked, dumping his book into one of the numerous bags his dad was carrying. Dorea huffed and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Now dear, he has behaved himself and most of Harry's things have been bought." Charlus said quickly sensing a mother son argument about to erupt.

"I don't mind going and getting my wand alone." Harry said breaking the tension. Dorea glanced, eyes softening.

"Why don't you take James to get his broom and I'll take Harry to Ollivanders." She said finally making James whoop with joy. He dragged his dad away before any further distractions came along and they were soon out of sight.

"Sorry about this." Harry said feeling guilty, here he was getting new things and attention leaving James out of the spotlight.

"Oh Harry dear, you've been a pleasure, I'm sorry about the way James has been behaving today." Dorea said and she patted his cheek softly.

"You're such a sweet boy Harry. Don't you ever change." She said as they started for Ollivanders.

Harry felt a shiver run down his spine as they entered Ollivanders shop it was just as he remembered it; small, dark and dusty.

Harry looked around and spotted Ollivander on a ladder further inside the shop. The man slowly got down and approached them.

"Back so soon? What did you do boy? Always causing problems you are!" Ollivander snapped making Harry take a step backwards.

"Oh no Mr Ollivander this isn't James this is our nephew Harry, he's come to stay with us." Dorea said quickly, twin red spots appearing on her cheeks.

Harry wondered what James had done to deserve that reaction from the adults.

Mr Ollivander leaned closer and peered into Harry's eyes. Harry had always felt that the mans eyes were strange.

"Ah yes I see." He said, making Harry wonder just what he'd seen, did he know legimency?

"Right then which is your wand arm?" He asked and Harry held out his right arm.

"Don't think I know who your parents were, did they get their wands from me?" Ollivander asked as the tape measurer did its thing. Harry didn't know what to say and glanced at Dorea who had seated herself in the chair by the door.

"Harry was sadly orphaned as a baby, we don't know anything about his parents I'm afraid." She answered smiling gently at Harry.

"Never mind, never mind." Ollivander muttered. He snapped his fingers and the tape measure rolled onto the counter. He started pulling out boxes from the piles lining the walls.

"Your cousins wand is eleven inches and Mahogany so why don't we work from that eh?" He said placing a box in front of Harry who had a sinking feeling they'd be there for a while.

Several wands later and a much happier Ollivander, they still didn't have a wand.

"Lovely just lovely. Haven't had such a tricky customer for a long while." Ollivander gushed giving Harry a broad smile.

"Not to worry it'll be here somewhere. Tell me boy, what do you like?" he asked a confused Harry.

"Er…Flying I guess." Harry answered. Ollivander nodded encouraging.

"Good, good lets try some of these then." He handed Harry another wand and they continued on with box after box until a soft humming could be heard.

"Well now how about this one?" Harry looked at the wand nestled in the box Ollivander held out.

It was his.

"Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." Ollivander said watching as Harry reached out for the wand.

It warmed under his fingers but felt a bit strange. The humming in the shop got louder and the air seemed to vibrate.

"Well go on then boy, try it out." Ollivander whispered.

Harry pointed the wand at the wall trying to think of which spell to use.

But before he had a chance to cast anything, the wand flared alive with golden sparks shooting out from the tip and phoenix song echoed around them.

Harry felt as if his magic was re-bonding with the wand. Almost like a thread, which had been unwound and was now being re-made.

"Well done my boy! Very special wand this is, I believe we can expect great things of you Mr Potter. Great things indeed." Ollivander said brusquely almost rudely. Harry stared at Ollivander waiting for the man to mention the connection to Voldemort.

"That will be eight galleons." The man said instead. Dorea paid for the wand and smiled in relief when they were outside.

"Strange man that is, scared me senseless as a child, still does to be true. There's just something spooky about him." She said shivering slightly, Harry nodded in agreement glad to have that over and done with.

"Shall we find James and Charlus then?" Dorea said cheerfully and they started making their way towards the Quidditch shop.

Harry slipped his wand up his sleeve and sighed, he hadn't realised just how much he'd missed having his wand until this moment.

James and Charlus were not in the Quidditch shop but had taken a table at _Teaspoons and sugar mice _a small café nestled between two shops.

"Harry, Harry look!" James called as he spotted them walking over, he was pointing at a shiny new broom lying on the ground between him and Charlus.

"That looks great James." Harry said getting into a seat. James was eyeing him with glee practically jumping on his seat. He glanced at Charlus who nodded.

"Happy birthday!" James exclaimed and handed Harry the broom and a bag of accessories. Harry was gob smacked.

"For me? But I thought?" James and Charlus laughed at his face.

"Well as James said, it wouldn't be fair if he got a new broom and you didn't. And it was your birthday yesterday, we never got to celebrate you so there you are." Charlus said smiling as his wife kissed his cheek.

"Thank you. This is great!" Harry said smiling broadly. It wasn't a Firebolt but he couldn't be picky.

"And a cake!" James called when a waiter hovered a cake towards them. Harry felt like he could burst with happiness. He was celebrating a birthday with his family. He had a whole summer of fun ahead of him before going to Hogwarts again.

James launched into a loud _Happy birthday to you _making others stop and stare. Harry felt himself blushing at James's antics and wanted to sink under the table when Charlus and Dorea joined in with the singing, they were soon surrounded by others joining in the song.

* * *

Hope you liked, just something to get us moving. Wand taken from hp and the Philosophers stone p.65


	5. Ready or Not, Here they Come

_On with the story. Hopefully you'll like... Thank you so much for the reviews :) they really kept me going. Mina_

* * *

The summer had gone by quickly, much to quickly.

Harry felt a mixture of dread and excitement at the thought of summer being over, having never felt anything other than relief at the end of the summer before he felt slightly strange now dreading saying goodbye.

His daily hours with the tutor had been going well. He and James had been separated as the teacher disapproved of siblings in the same class, _breed's jealousy_.

He was slightly angry at the fact the classes weren't offered to everyone, as he knew many muggleborn's and he himself that could have benefited from having had them before being introduced to Hogwarts.

He was particularly cross about the potions know-how he had been taught. It made everything he'd learnt so far make sense. Why you stirred certain amounts of times or directions when using different ingredients or making certain strengths, no wonder Snape had moaned about them all being dunderheads, if they'd known the basics in potions before starting it would have made sense and maybe been fun.

The teacher had taught him the basics in many of the subjects taught in Hogwarts mainly theory, wand work would come at Hogwarts.

Harry and James had made a habit of flying in the morning with their new brooms. James was positive they would both make the team, him as the star keeper or chaser and Harry as the seeker.

"I really don't see why we can't join the team as first years." He grumbled repeatedly when they played on the small Quidditch field outside.

Iggy who'd grown big often joined them as they flew, he seemed to take great delight in diving straight for Harry and flaming out at the last second.

James found it hilarious to watch Harry chase after the phoenix round the pitch, as Iggy would disappear as soon as Harry got too close. It was all great practise for Harry who played nice with James, worried about being too good and upsetting him.

Charlus, who Harry had found out, had retired, usually sat outside in the garden reading when they flew and had only recently stopped gasping whenever Harry made a dive.

"Mad boy! Absolutely mad, don't let Dorea see you!" He'd caution Harry looking around as if expecting her to jump out from the rose bushes at any moment.

James who normally liked to best and fastest had decided that only seekers needed to dive like Harry and so him trying to dive wasn't really necessary. Charlus had paled at the thought of James diving and had wholeheartedly agreed.

Tomorrow he and James would be boarding the Hogwarts express and not be back until Christmas holidays, which felt like a long time away.

Dorea was in James room packing his trunk ready for the next day and the boys were in Harry's room with James lounging on Harry's bed.

"I need to get into Gryffindor. Can you imagine getting sorted into Slytherin? I think I'd rather leave than stay." James said pulling out a squashed chocolate frog package from his pocket.

Harry nodded from besides his trunk and continued rolling up his socks and making sure he was ready for the next day. He was quite worried about the sorting to be true. What would the hat say when he put it on? Would it tell Dumbledore about him? Would it sort him into Slytherin this time? Would it sort him at all? So many thoughts were flying through his head.

"You'll probably be in Gryffindor. Dad says only really good people have phoenixes, and Gryffindor is the Good house." James said chewing on a frog leg.

"I don't think that's how it works James." Harry said sitting down next to him.

"Gryffindor is for the brave, and well you can be brave and bad. Slytherin is for the ambitious who know what they want and how to get it, not necessarily evil people." Harry said slowly. James stared hard at him.

"But Slytherins are bad, everyone says so." He insisted.

"No, none of the houses are bad. Why would they have a house that only taught evil people, that would be daft." Harry challenged. He was toying with the thought of befriending Snape and didn't want James to sabotage his chances.

"We'll see when we get to school I guess." James said, sounding dubious. Harry shrugged and gathered his last items before closing his trunk.

"How are you boys getting on?" Dorea asked, walking into the room.

"Fine." James answered vaguely stuffing the rest of his frog into his mouth.

"Did you pack my Zonko stuff?" He asked suddenly wiping his hands on his shirt. Dorea rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair playfully.

"Yes dear, how could I forget when you've reminded me all day?" She asked him.

"Harry dear, where are all your clothes?" She asked after opening his empty wardrobe.

"Oh I packed them into my trunk, did you need to see them?" Harry asked worried he'd done something wrong. Maybe she hadn't marked his name into all of them yet.

"You packed it?" She asked surprised. Harry opened his trunk and she looked even more surprised at how neatly he'd done it.

"That's very good Harry. Well done!" Harry smiled at the praise, he was trying really hard to be helpful as they'd been so nice to him.

"Could you maybe shrink Iggy's perch before we leave tomorrow?" Harry asked eyeing the new stand Iggy sat on. Dorea and Charlus had bought a new one for him since the other one had been conjured by their houself and would stay here in the house.

"Of course dear, just remind me again in the morning. How is Iggy travelling by the way?" She asked stroking the phoenix softly. She took great pleasure from his presence and had shyly asked for permission to pet him, Iggy had nodded and made her very happy.

"Oh, I didn't think about that. Are we travelling the muggle way?" Harry asked picturing the look on everyone's faces should he walk through Kings Cross Station with a phoenix on his shoulder.

"No I think we'll floo there directly, saves on time." Dorea answered after a moment's deliberation.

Harry looked at Iggy questioning. Iggy Harry had discovered could communicate somewhat with him, he showed images of what he wanted.

"He'll flash me to the station when you go through the floo." Harry said excitedly, flashing with Iggy was far better than stumbling out of a fireplace. Dorea nodded looking slightly worried.

"I guess that should be fine." She said finally looking between Harry and Iggy.

"Where are you all hiding?" They heard Charlus call from downstairs.

"Frank is here for some flying James!" He added making James shoot out off the room. Frank Longbottom was a second year Gryffindor and James hero. Harry had been surprised when meeting Frank, as he was completely different from how Neville had been as a child.

Harry slowly made it downstairs, he could hear James chatting excitedly outside. Charlus stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up when Harry finally made it to the bottom.

"Could I have a word Harry?" He asked beckoning Harry into the sitting room. He motioned for Harry to take a seat and slowly made himself comfortable. Harry thought he looked a little pained and worried about what Charlus had to say.

"Harry I wanted to have a chat with you about, well about where you lived before at the orphanage. I've been trying to find out some more about who your parents were and how we're related." Charlus took a steadying breath and Harry squirmed on his chair.

"It seems the address we had to the orphanage led to a building that was damaged in the fighting earlier in the summer. We haven't been able to find any records at all about you, there didn't seem to be any sort of backup files held anywhere." He glanced at Harry who tried to look puzzled, which wasn't too hard.

"The paper we got at the Ministry only gave general information and it's mostly based on your own knowledge. I'll try and get a hold of the Potter birth book but to be honest Harry, I didn't know I had any other relatives on the Potter side of the family. I'm very glad I do of course, feels like you've been part of the family for ever." He smiled at Harry who smiled back.

"I can still stay then?" Harry asked quietly, making Charlus lean forwards in his chair.

"Of course, no question about it Harry, you're ours now!" Charlus said forcefully, smiling at the obvious relief on Harry's face.

"I just wanted you to know what's been going on. Dorea and I wanted you to know that we've written you in as our son on the wizardry population registry. We'd be very happy for you to see us as your new parents when you're ready." He ended looking nervous.

Harry had to swallow hard as a hard lump seemed to have gotten stuck in his throat. His eyes felt suspiciously itchy and he gave a small cough. Charlus seemed able to read him though and simply opened his arms. Harry walked over and was embraced in a hard hug. There was a small sound from the doorway making Harry straighten. Dorea eyed his wet cheeks and gave a small sob before rushing over to give Harry a hug of her own.

"My second little boy. I'll miss you terribly you know." She whispered into his ear. Harry burrowed himself deeper into the hug.

"I'll miss you too, mum." He whispered back softly making her tighten her hug. Charlus stood and joined them kissing Harry's head before excusing himself with a hoarse voice.

Harry and Dorea stayed in the sitting room until James burst into it with a bang some time later.

"Why didn't you come and play with Frank?" He asked Harry curiously.

"James daddy and I asked Harry if he'd like to be your brother for real." Dorea barely had time to finish.

"Do you? Do you?" James asked urgently wringing his hands. Harry nodded, feeling happier than ever before. James clearly wanted him in the family.

"YES!" James shouted running round the room. Dorea laughed and whipped away a runaway tear slipping down her cheek. Charlus had made it back into the room and was gazing at James with pride.

"I have a twin! We can do so many pranks." James gushed happily, eyeing Harry as if his dreams had come true. Harry laughed at the look of consternation that had appeared on Doreas face.

"Don't worry mum, I'll be the good one." Harry joked shyly. Doreas gaze softened at Harry's _mum_. James eyed him shocked as if he'd only just realised he'd be sharing parents.

"Wicked, you really are my brother." He said eyeing Harry with a pleased look.

"Why don't you two brothers go upstairs and play whilst I make dinner." Dorea said ushering them back upstairs. Harry glanced down when he reached the top, to see his new parents hugging at the bottom of the stairs. He felt warm all over and the lump seemed to be permanently stuck. He was really home, with his family.

The next morning dawned bright and early with James stressing out about not finding his Zonko joke stuff in his trunk immediately.

"James Potter! What are all your things doing on the floor instead of in your trunk?" Dorea screamed as she entered his room, she quickly had her wand out.

"Sorry mum but I need my joke stuff." James said calmly stuffing as much of the joke articles into his pockets as he could.

"Might need it." He defended himself at her glare.

"Down, kitchen, now!" Dorea snapped pointing at the door. James shrugged and slowly made it out of his room where he joined a newly awoken Harry.

"Neat, huh? I've got everything ready." James smiled, he patted his bulging pockets and skipped down the stairs. Harry yawned, not really following the conversation.

"Morning sweetheart." Dorea greeted softly giving him a quick hug before sighing and re-entering James room to pack his trunk again.

Breakfast was a mostly one-sided conversation. James who was all but bouncing with excitement talked non-stop.

Harry felt a bit depressed, he hadn't realised how hard it would feel to leave the Potter house and his new parents. Dorea kept sniffing and kissed both James and Harry repeatedly on the head as she walked past them. Charlus was hiding behind the morning paper and kept clearing his throat every time James gushed about how fantastic it was gong to be leaving for school.

Finally the time had come to leave, Harry with Iggy on his shoulder and James held in a firm grip by Charlus.

Harry wondered why the Weasley's hadn't travelled by floo to the station, he couldn't actually remember hearing about anyone travelling by floo now that he thought about it.

"Are you sure you will be able to get to the station on your own, dear? Maybe you should just floo with me." Dorea asked worriedly glancing at Iggy and Harry.

"We'll be fine, Iggy knows the way. We'll be there before you I should guess." Harry answered calmly. Charlus gave Dorea a small nod and she sniffed before moving forwards to the fireplace.

"See you there." Harry said before disappearing with Iggy in a flash.

He reappeared at a busy platform, children everywhere, animals being chased into cages and adults saying emotional goodbyes to their children. Iggy who had decided against travelling on the train flashed off to Hogwarts.

"Oh, well that worked just fine." Dorea said relieved, joining Harry after a just a few seconds.

"That was wicked, Harry! Can I try it sometime?" James exclaimed when he and Charlus appeared. James didn't wait for an answer though but quickly hugged his parents and made a beeline for the train as fast as he could.

"Come on Harry!" He called over his shoulder.

"Good to see he's fine about leaving the nest I guess." Charlus said lightly shaking his head.

"I'll miss you boy's something terribly. Promise to write, and if you need anything at all we won't be too far away, the school has floo connections in the teacher's room." Dorea said quickly to Harry, nearly smothering him with her tight embrace.

"I'll miss you too and I'll write." Harry promised, hugging her back just as hard. It was going to be really hard too leave, he didn't really want to. It wasn't as if he needed to go back to school, explaining the reason to his new mum and dad might be a bit hard though.

"Try and keep that boy in line will you, Harry." Charlus said jokingly as he finally had a go at hugging Harry. Dorea had pulled out a white handkerchief and stood waving it at the train, where a somewhat annoyed James stood waiting for Harry.

"Will you just get on the train already!" He called impatiently to Harry, who noticed that most students had in fact boarded the train.

"Go on my boy, we'll see you again before you know it. Christmas isn't that far away, just a couple of months." Charlus said, clearing his throat loudly before grabbing hold of both boys' trunks and getting them on to the train. Harry walked slowly towards James feeling his eyes sting. Silly to have him be the one wanting to cry, instead of the younger James.

"Finally! Get on! Bye mum, bye dad see you at Christmas!" James called, dragging Harry into the train.

The Potters waved and Harry refused to leave the window until the station had disappeared from view.

"What took you so long, the train was going to leave any minute you know." James scolded as they went in search for a compartment. They had walked past several packed compartments and James was grumbling about how they would have had one if they'd been quicker.

"You can sit here with me." A young girls voice said from next to them. Harry felt as if his heart was about to stop.

It had to be Alice Longbottom, she looked so much like Neville.

"Er, thanks but we want our own compartment." James said quickly. The girls face fell and Harry glared at him, James it seemed had a thing about boy's not playing with girls.

"I'm Harry and this is James. I'd love a seat if you don't mind." Harry said cheerfully ignoring James.

"I'm Alice. Are you first years too?" She asked looking happier. James sighed but sat down as far as possible form the girl, looking out the window.

"James! What are you doing here? With a girl?" A boy walking past had made a turnabout after glancing in through the door. James blushed and stood quickly.

"Sirius!" He exclaimed happily doing a high five with the boy.

"Harry this is Sirius, our something cousin on granny's side of the family." James introduced to a shocked Harry. He was related to Sirius? Why had no one informed him of this?

"Where are you sitting Sirius?" James asked looking far more up beat.

"Well I saw Frank up ahead." Sirius answered vaguely staring at Harry.

"Who is he?" He finally asked pointing at Harry.

"This is Harry my new brother, we're twins!" James said excitedly. Sirius and Alice both looked confused.

"Come on Harry let's go find Frank." James said pulling on Harry's arm.

"I'm fine thanks, I'll just stay here I think. Keep Alice company." Harry said, finding James's and Sirius twin looks of horror comical.

"You want to sit with a girl? Why?" Sirius asked surprised.

"He's like that. He's the good one and I'm the naughty one." James said gleefully rubbing his hands together. Sirius glanced between them and nodded slowly as if that made it more understandable.

"See you later Harry." James said cheerfully as they left.

"You don't have to stay if you don't want too." Alice said shyly when the door slid shut behind the boys.

"Oh but I do want to stay." Harry said smiling at her. She smiled back tentatively.

"I don't really know anyone. My parents home schooled me, but I'm really excited to go to Hogwarts. I have heard it's great. My mum was in Hufflepuff and my dad was a Gryffindor. I really want to be a Gryffindor it sounds really fun." Alice spoke very quickly as if afraid he'd interrupt her.

"What about you?" She added blushing. Harry couldn't help but laugh, Alice blushed even harder before giggling.

"Gryffindor sounds fun." Harry agreed, and they both smiled at each other.

"What did James mean when he said you were his new brother?" Alice asked curiously.

"We're really cousins but I live with James now. My parents died when I was a baby." Harry said watching her face fall.

"Sorry." She mumbled uncomfortable. Harry felt just as uncomfortable and struggled to find a safe topic to chat about.

There was a knock on the door and a sandy haired boy slid the door open.

"Hi, can I sit here?" He asked shyly.

"Sure." Harry said, his heart beating fast.

"I'm Remus by the way." The boy said quietly, sitting down next to Harry.

"I'm Alice and this is Harry." Alice said smiling.

The three of them sat chatting happily the rest of the journey, chairing sweets bought form the trolley.

BANG

Their door slid open hard as James and Sirius burst in, sliding the door shut quickly behind them. They were laughing hard and looked to Harry's mind as if they'd been causing trouble.

"James my friend that was classic. Did you see their faces?" Sirius gasped, patting James on the back. James who was going red from the lack of oxygen just nodded.

"You should have seen it Harry. There's this girl and boy and we pranked them…" Sirius trailed off as he both he and James burst into laughter at what ever it was they had done.

"…James had this bald patch pastille and he offered one to the girl and…it was so funny…she had this really long red hair and it all…just…vanished!" Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"And the boy thought he could hex us, but Sirius knows loads of hexes and he didn't have a chance." James added in between giggles.

"I showed him good didn't I?" Sirius said proudly puffing his chest out.

"I swear he was about to cry." James gushed smiling widely.

Harry who had gotten a bad feeling about the whole thing at the mentioning of red hair didn't smile.

James, who was in the process of messing up his hair, froze as he noticed Harry's face.

"Er, it was just for fun Harry." He defended himself. Sirius glanced between the two Potters.

"I thought fun, was something that made everyone laugh? Did they think it was funny? Does she know that her hair will come back?" Harry asked mildly. Sirius made a rude noise in the back of his throat.

"Everyone knows it will. And the boy asked for it!" He sneered, shrugging his shoulders. James looked slightly more uncomfortable.

"Maybe it was a little over the top. I guess she must have been a muggleborn since she was so upset. But we didn't mean any harm, it was just a joke." He said looking at Harry guiltily.

"I'm going to go and change into my robes." Alice interrupted leaving the compartment. The train was slowing down finally. Harry went and got his robes out as well.

"I'm Remus by the way." Remus piped up as they were getting changed. Sirius grinned winningly at him.

"Want a sweet?" He offered innocently.

"No thanks." Remus said, smiling shyly. Sirius gave a laugh and the tension slowly evaporated, leaving them to enjoy the last bit of their journey.

Travelling from the train to the castle was somewhat eventful, Sirius and James had decided to play rock-the-boat on the lake, and making the only boy brave enough to sit with them throw up all the sweets he'd eaten on the train. Hagrid had patted the wee thing on the back comfortingly and dumped the boy in the lake, making both Sirius and James howl with laughter.

The sorting had been another exhausting event. The hat had taken ages to sort the panicky Harry, much to the other nervous first years annoyance.

Harry couldn't help but sigh in relief as soon as the food arrived on the table in the great hall.

The hat had offered him Slytherin again! The nerve! It had promised not to reveal anything it knew, unless he asked it to. It had a confidentiality spell put on it stopping anyone from gaining information about others. What a relief.

He could see his mother. His real mother, with a head full of red long hair sitting further down the table next to Alice. The first sight of her being sorted had got his heart racing.

And if that wasn't enough, he also had Peter Pettigrew seated on the opposite side of the table. He turned out to be the nearly drowned boy from earlier and sat shivering even though McGonagall had performed the drying and heating charm on him.

Not evil yet, Harry told himself.

He glanced up at the head table and was surprised to see Dumbledore watching him intently or was he looking at James sitting next to him? Had he maybe heard about the hair incident? Or the hex incident? Or the boat incident?

Snape had confronted James and Sirius in the small hall they were asked to wait in before the sorting.

James had taken courage and asked for forgiveness from Lily, saying he hadn't meant to make her sad. Lily had turned her nose up and said he'd have to prove it before she believed anything he said. Snape had sneered at him not at all impressed with the apology.

The boy in question was seated at the Slytherin table throwing longing glances at Lily.

Harry wondered just how well his plan to get on his good side was going to go. Snape had taken one look at Harry and come to the conclusion that he was just like James.

Oh, well seven years to work on that, Harry thought grimly.

"Harry, do you think the headmaster is going to expel us? He's staring at me I think." James whispered in his ear. Sirius stopped eating and looked stricken beside him. The boy had looked ecstatic earlier when the hat had declared him a Gryffindor. He had waved cheerfully towards the Slytherins, where Harry had noticed with a chill, Bellatrix Black sat with a disgusted look on her face.

Having looked more closely at the Slytherin table, Harry had also noticed Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, or Black as she still was called. He had seen several other future deatheater's and had shuddered.

"I don't think so James. I'm sure professor McGonagall would have told you earlier if you were going to be expelled." Harry said reassuringly making the other two boys' relax.

"Then why do you think he's staring at us like that?" James whispered, trying to not stare back at the Headmaster. Harry shrugged, he had no clue what was going on in the mans head. It sure was nice to see him back in his seat though, Harry thought.

"I think you're in trouble with the head'." Remus piped up from the other side of the table, making Sirius and James hunch down in their seats.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Harry said, shrugging calmly. What would Dumbledore do? He'd never really disciplined anyone very much during all of Harry's years with him. Snape had been the bad cop and Dumbledore the good.

Both boys seemed to take comfort from Harry's relaxed attitude and Remus shrugged. Sirius grinned at him, seemingly having forgiven him for being a goody, goody boy earlier on the train.

Harry who felt quite exhausted now that the scary sorting was over, longed for the bed he knew waited upstairs for him.

As soon as Dumbledore said goodnight Harry was off. He missed the surprised looks he got from the older years as they followed the newly sorted first year student up towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Pride." One of the prefects said loudly enough for everyone behind too hear and Harry shoot in quickly through the portrait opening. He had to get _his_ bed, he needed the comfort of familiarity in the otherwise confusing set-up of being in a similar but different Hogwarts.

"Mine." He said as soon as he landed on the bed. James and Sirius who'd followed him with puzzled looks quickly snagged the beds on either side of him.

"How in the world did you know the way?" Sirius asked curiously from his bed. Harry cursed himself and tried thinking fast.

Iggy suddenly appeared in a blaze, making Sirius topple out of bed with a startled yelp. James started laughing, having gotten used to the birds sudden appearance.

"What the hell?" Sirius exclaimed peeking over the mattress with big eyes. Remus who'd entered the room quietly, moved closer.

"Is that a phoenix?" He asked, awed. Harry nodded giving Iggy a scratch on the neck.

"Wow, I read about those. They're really rare." He added sitting down on the edge of Harry's bed forgetting his shyness.

"This is my friend Iggy. Iggy this is Remus." Harry introduced, Iggy moved closer to Remus who froze. The phoenix looked at him and Harry received the mental picture of an older Remus giving him some yummy mango.

"He likes you." Harry said making Remus light up with a brilliant smile.

"Really?" He asked excitedly smiling at the bird. He held out his hand tentatively and Iggy moved himself under it and was rewarded with a soft stroke. Remus looked to be in heaven.

Sirius who'd crawled back onto his bed sat staring equally awed at the phoenix.

Harry could see his fingers twitching as if he too, wanted to pet the bird.

"Do you want to come meet him too?" Harry asked the boy who scrambled forwards excitedly.

He had all the boys on his bed after the invitation, even Peter who looked slightly peeved at sharing the room with James and Sirius.

It turned out to be a much later night than Harry had anticipated as they'd all been curious about each other and stayed up getting to know one another.

Harry's last thought before drifting off was that he didn't mind having to do this all again, he was actually starting too look forwards to the year ahead.

He wasn't the boy who lived and there wasn't going to be any near death experiences this time, of that he was sure.


	6. Classes, moony and Bloody knights

_Hello, time for another chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to review, I love reviews please keep them coming:) Mina_

Chapter six

Harry couldn't believe a whole week had passed already. Being a first year again was much better than last time. The teachers liked him, unless they confused him for James, which had happened a couple of times during the week.

He'd written a long letter to Mr and Mrs Potter telling them all about Hogwarts.

It had been like a dream come true writing it. Everyone else had always had people to write home to and now so did he.

James had scribbled a detailed account of the pranks he'd pulled and asked for more prank materials form Zonko's at the bottom of the letter. Harry noticed that James had forgotten to mention the hair incident from the train, he suspected James felt a bit ashamed of it really.

Sirius had received a letter from home and Harry wondered what it had said as the boy had looked pale reading it.

Harry had noticed Bellatrix sneering at Sirius whenever she saw him, it worried him slightly and he'd taken to keep an eye out for the Slytherins whenever Sirius was around.

Sirius wasn't the only one Bellatrix paid attention too though, Harry had caught her staring at him several times and didn't like it one bit. What was so interesting about him, Harry anyway? He wasn't the boy-who-lived here after all.

The classes were very relaxing and Harry usually spent them trying to do his best on whatever spell he was casting, not happy until it was perfect. He had no excuse after all to get them wrong.

James and Sirius had surpassed the Weasley twins in naughtiness and received two detentions already. They felt very proud of their detentions when an irate McGonagall had informed them that she'd never had a first year student with detention so early on in the term.

Sirius had beamed and nudged James happily.

"I bet we've broken some sort of record." Sirius had gushed making James grin back. Harry had felt very uncomfortable with the look they had shared before grinning madly at each other. McGonagall had looked far from impressed with their reaction.

Transfiguration was Harry's new favourite subject and if he dared to think it, he thought he might be McGonagall's new favourite student. James was probably a close second but could possibly loose out because of his and Sirius pranks.

Poor little Avery, a Slytherin first year, had come hopping in to the great hall one day after _someone _had cursed him with the Leg-Locker curse. The glare he'd sent the giggling Gryffindor duo had told everyone who the _someone's_ might be. He and Snape had put their heads together as soon as one of the Slytherin prefects had cancelled the curse. They had been whispering heatedly through the meal eyeing the duo with narrowed eyes. Harry dreaded the revenge that would undoubtedly happen at some point.

Potions had been fairly straightforward, Slughorn had awarded Harry twenty points for answering questions right and brewing the best potion in the class.

James and Sirius who'd been paired managed to brew a brown smelly slime, Harry didn't really want to know what they'd been trying for. They had both looked pleased with the result however making the professor shake his head tiredly.

Snape had looked furious at having Harry beat him in the class. The Slytherin had done a perfect re-enactment of Hermione as a first year making it hard for Harry to keep a straight face.

Snape had hovered over his chair in eagerness to answer the questions asked by Slughorn.

The Professor had smiled and patted Harry's head as he'd excited the class making him worry about the possible _Slug-club_ invitation he was bound to get at some point. He couldn't help but worry about who the club members might be.

The week hadn't been all fun and games though.

Harry, who'd been working up the courage to talk to Lily Evans, was now feeling sad and disappointed at the disaster that had been.

He'd made his move during their charms lesson and seated himself next to her as the lesson was starting. She had glared at him and made a point of not speaking to him during the entire lesson. Harry had been nearly in tears at the end of the class.

His mother hated him!

James, who'd been observing Harry sitting next to yet another girl, had stormed after Lily as soon as she'd rushed away from Harry and the classroom.

"What's your problem? He just wanted to talk!" James had shouted stalking after her in the corridor. Lily had blushed bright red at being in the spotlight, several of their classmates stood staring at them.

"He probably wanted to hex me like you! I heard what you did to Severus friend, he didn't do anything to you!" She had shouted back, sneering at him.

"Harry is nothing like me! He likes girls!" James had shouted, glaring at her.

"And he doesn't like pranking people, he's the one that told me to apologise to you! But now I wish I hadn't!" James had added stomping his foot.

Lily had pursed her lips in a very Petunia like expression before stalking off in a huff.

"You just leave me alone Potter! You're nothing but a bully!" She'd shouted as she'd rounded the corner and disappeared.

"But Harry isn't!" James had shouted after her angrily before stalking off in the opposite direction.

Harry and Remus had looked at each other in confusion, hadn't James apologised earlier for the train prank?

"James tried to say sorry again in the common room but he accidentally spilled some everlasting inc all over Lily's homework, and she just blew up. It's not like it was on purpose!" Sirius had defended, when both Harry and Remus had groaned.

Lily hadn't softened up towards Harry as the week had passed and Harry wondered if she ever would.

All she did was hang out with Snape. She hadn't even said sorry for blaming him for James's bad behaviour.

"I'm sure she'll come round Harry." Alice had whispered reassuringly during their first Astronomy lesson.

"I keep on telling her that you're nothing like James, but she's really stubborn and won't listen." She'd added, looking confused at the telescope before realising that the planet she'd been observing had in fact been the moon. Harry had shrugged and tried not to stare in Lily's direction longingly.

"I think she knows that you're different from your brother, she just doesn't want to admit it." Remus had whispered joining the conversation.

He was very pale and his hands weren't quite steady as he adjusted his telescope next to Harry.

Harry wished there was something he could do for Remus. But as he'd never bothered to learn how to brew the Wolfsbane potion (stupid really) and he'd never had the time to become an animagus, there wasn't much he could do.

He had made sure to be extra attentive and helpful whenever Remus looked tired or paler than usual.

Iggy had been the real hero really, he'd taken to sit with Harry and Remus up in the dormitory singing softly, which seemed to ease the other boy's tension slightly.

Harry had been surprised at the lack of gossip concerning Iggy. The phoenix had never been mentioned as far as Harry knew. None of the other boys had talked about Harry having a phoenix up in the dormitory and Iggy didn't like being in the great hall with so many students about.

Right now he and Remus were seated on Harry's bed up in the dormitory. Remus was looking paler than usual and kept glancing at his small watch.

Harry was really worried about him, he knew that Remus had gone through all of this before but he was so small, it was so unfair.

He wondered if the boy would feel better if he knew that someone had figured out about moony.

"Um Remus…" Harry stuttered, suddenly changing his mind. Remus looked up and eyed him curiously.

"Yes?" He encouraged. Harry took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I know about the moon thing." He whispered quickly before opening his eyes. Remus quickly looked down on his lap, looking as if he was about to cry.

"I guess…I guess you don't want…" Remus stuttered in a choked voice.

"No! I mean I do! I don't care about it, it's just a couple of days of you being away really, right?" Harry rushed to say. Iggy flew over and nestled in between the boys cooing softly.

"And Iggy likes you! So you're definitely not bad at all!" Harry injected when Remus softly stroked the scarlet feathers of the bird.

The boy looked up biting his lip, his eyes were suspiciously shiny and before Harry had a moment to think of something to say he was in a tight hug.

"Thank you." Remus whispered before letting go. Harry blushed and tried to say it was fine, Remus blushed as well and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"So will you go somewhere safe tonight?" Harry asked, knowing full well where Remus was headed. The boy nodded but before he had a chance to say anything the door was thrown open.

"Harry! James got hurt! He's in the hospital wing, you have to come!" Sirius gasped from the doorway breathing hard. Harry not liking the look of panic on Sirius face flew out of the dormitory, his heart beating fast.

It felt like forever before he reached the hospital wing. The door banged open and Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"Where is he? Is he all right? What happened?" Harry looked around wildly expecting blood to be splattered everywhere.

James waved happily from one of the beds making Harry take a deep calming breath, feeling his heart start to slow down.

"What happened?" He asked again, this time in a calmer tone.

"Well we were investigating the castle, just trying to see how best to get around. And then we took a left turn and we saw some cool paintings of pixies and then we walked up some stairs…did you know there's like loads of armoured knights of the fourth corridor…eh I mean…" James trailed of at the look Harry was giving him.

"So you're not really hurt badly?" Harry asked in a calm tone again, his left eye twitching slightly. He turned and glared at Sirius who looked at him with big eyes.

"I thought he was down here bleeding all over! With broken bones! Or not breathing!" Harry screamed, making the black haired boy retreat slowly towards the door where Peter stood looking nervous. James laughed, choking when Harry turned his eyes his way.

"What happened?" He asked a third time.

"He saved my life." A small voice said from behind a curtain. Harry stepped forwards and eyed Lily Evans in surprise. He glanced towards James who blushed and shrugged.

"One of the knights toppled over and would have hit me but he pushed me out of the way and it fell on him instead." Lily said quietly, eyeing her hands. Harry eyed James in surprise.

"Mr Potter, while I find your concern very admirable I do not tolerate banging of doors or screaming in my ward. You will see to remember that in future I hope." Madam Pomfrey said in a crisp voice making Harry nod carefully.

"I'm sorry, I was just worried and he…" Harry trailed of at the look on her face.

"What are their injuries" Harry asked in a quiet voice making her stare.

"Well, miss Evans has a laceration to her arm which has been healed. Mr Potter has a large bump on the back of his head and a small crack in the bone of his right arm easily treated, both will have to stay the night. They are lucky to not have any more serious injuries, those armours should really be removed they serve no purpose here in the school and are a health and safety hazard." Madam Pomfrey snapped.

James looked ready to defend the armours but seemed to realise that arguing with the matron was a bad idea, especially if you were a patient.

"Thank you. Is there anything I can do to help?" Harry asked quickly, he felt quite shaky now that the danger had passed.

Merlin, seeing James in the hospital bed was bad enough but to have Lily here as well.

The Matron stared at him surprised and shook her head.

There was a loud bang when the door slammed open making them all jump. Pomfrey turned around and glared at the newcomer.

"Mr Potter! What is this I hear of you running through the castle as if chased by hippogriffs?" Professor McGonagall asked, entering the ward. She looked around surprised at having so many first year Gryffindor's in place.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" She asked looking at Pomfrey, who shrugged.

"Mr Potter and Miss Evans had an accident, the rest are here to inquire of their health." Pomfrey answered crisply, straightening her robes.

"And I will remind you to enter the ward in a more dignified manner, there are sick patients here for healing and rest." She snapped, bringing a faint blush to the transfigurations professor's cheeks.

"Well it's almost time for curfew, up to your common room. Now!" McGonagall snapped at Sirius and Harry who open their mouths to argue.

James waved from his bed looking sad to have them leave. Lily gave Harry a very small smile when he looked in her direction and Harry beamed at her. Maybe there was hope after all.

"Come along now, Mr Potter. You as well Mr Black." McGonagall said and dragged them out of the ward and along the corridor. Peter had made his escape earlier it seemed.

"Sorry if I worried you, but he wasn't waking up before." Sirius whispered next to Harry as they walked behind their head of house. Harry nodded and gave him a small smile to show he understood. And they walked the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

"Mr Lupin has had to go home for a quick health check. I'm afraid he gets poorly every now and then." McGonagall said as she ushered them through the portrait leading to the common room.

"He's gone already? I wanted to say goodbye." Harry said looking stricken. How could he have just left Remus up here alone. He felt like a rotten egg. He hoped Remus had been all right before leaving. He hoped Iggy had kept him company.

Both the professor and Sirius eyed him curiously.

"How did you know he was going to be sick? And why didn't he just go to the hospital wing?" Sirius asked.

"Well he's been looking sick for the last couple of days." Harry answered not meeting their eyes. Not his place to tell Sirius about Moony after all. McGonagall eyed him a bit longer making him wonder if she too knew Legimency.

"Mr Lupin requires help from a healer away from school. Well, don't dawdle up into bed the pair of you!" She snapped before exiting the common room.

Sirius glanced in Harry's direction and shrugged. They started making their way up the stairs ready for bed. It was a very quiet dormitory with two boys missing, Harry who was worried about Remus, James and Lily took forever to fall asleep. He hoped the next week would be a bit quieter.


	7. Midnight Encounters

_Yeay next chapter up, more action in this one I hope. Thank you to all that reviewed the last chapter, I swear it makes me write faster. Hint, hint Mina _

Midnight encounters

Harry was starting to get into the groove of things now. Being sent to the past was the best thing that had ever happened to him, which he made sure Iggy knew. Cue lots of grapes and tropical fruits.

Sure he was in constant worry over everyone getting hurt. James especially.

James had managed to fall down the stairs and break his left arm during the second week of school missing out on their first Quidditch lesson, he'd been trying to do a trick he'd read about in wiz-kid weekly the day before.

Honestly, he'd tried to do a somersault by jumping of the banister and then landing gracefully on his feet. James however had gone down headfirst and should count himself lucky to have been able to twist midair before landing on his side with a painful crack.

Harry had tried to explain that just because a kid's magazine said it was cool, it didn't automatically mean you should do it.

The Potters had sent back a reply to his letter with a big stash of sweets to share with James and his friends. James had received his long awaited Zonko products and a telling of for his actions, _we have had several letters from your head of house James Potter_.

Lily was now happier with being in the same room as the rest of them, even though James and Sirius still wrinkled their noses at the thought of playing with a girl. Snape had been seen sulking around them as he and the boys had made a temporary truce. It seemed Snape was doing something to change Sirius and James's attitudes towards him, the Slytherin was after all defending a muggleborn so how bad could he be? Snape on the other hand looked slightly peeved at the easy acceptance into their dysfunctional gang and still sneered as soon as they made any kind of comment his way.

Harry had heard a rumour about some of the Slytherins being upset about a first year snake fraternizing with a Gryffindor mudblood and felt strangely proud of Snape who refused to leave Lily's side just because of some silly house rivalry. It did look sad to see him almost abandoned at the end of their table during meal times though. He wondered if it was against school rules to sit at another house table.

It was now several weeks into the term and Harry felt very happy with his life. There was one thing that was worrying him though other than James's safety, accident prone as he was.

He was either going paranoid or Bellatrix Black was spying on him. He'd started to see her around much more in between classes, she'd be standing at a corner he was about to turn or behind a bookshelf in the library, even out on the grounds whenever they ventured outdoors. It was starting to make him very nervous. What would a seventh year Slytherin want to do with a first year after all? And a Gryffindor to boot.

What was she up to? He wondered.

Harry and Remus were sitting in the library at the moment studying for their next Potions lesson. Professor Slughorn whom Harry was slowly starting to like had asked them all to find a difficult potion they wanted to brew in the future as their homework, it would be an incentive to keep them working hard in the coming years according to the professor.

Harry had decided to find the Wolfsbane potion as that was something he regretted never having learnt and it would benefit Remus.

Remus was awful at potions, which Harry found quite remarkable, Remus probably being one of the most intelligent adults Harry had meet. The quieter boy had admitted that his advanced sense of smelling made it hard to concentrate in class, He could not only smell his own ingredients but the other students as well and all the different smells made him feel slightly nauseous.

Harry who felt a bit nervous about his selected potion hadn't told Remus which potion he'd chosen. It turned out to be a good thing too as he couldn't find any reference to the potion anywhere in the library. Could it be that it hadn't been created yet he wondered or maybe it was kept somewhere else.

Harry glanced towards the restricted section of the library. It would be hard without the cloak but he felt sure he could make it. Decision made, he would sneak out during the night and look at the restricted potions books for the potion.

He dragged Remus away from the library and up to the great hall for some lunch.

"Oy, where were you?" Sirius demanded to know as soon as they had sat down. Remus looked slightly taken aback at the tone of voice.

"Just in the library doing some light reading." He answered softly glancing at Harry for confirmation. Sirius looked appalled.

"What! During lunchtime break? Why?" He asked looking very confused, he looked at James who shrugged as if he too had no idea how Harry and Remus ended up in the Gryffindor house.

"We were just looking up some potions for homework." Harry muttered between bites of food. Really the boys should start to pay more attention he hadn't actually seen them do any homework at all since they started school. He glanced at them and couldn't help snorting at the looks of absolute horror pasted on their faces.

"He's joking." James breathed in relief at hearing the snort.

"Nope, we really did look for potions." Harry answered cheerfully making the terrible two groan.

They sat whispering close together for the rest of the lunchtime.

Remus looked happy when it was time for transfiguration. James and Sirius looked slightly nervous though setting of Harry's, _they've caused trouble,_ alarm. Upon entering the classroom Harry spotted McGonagall eyeing the boys with narrowed eyes, which confirmed his suspicions.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on, until finally it was bedtime. Harry pretended to go to bed earlier than usual, saying he felt very tired all of a sudden and yawning all the time. The others didn't suspect a thing making Harry smirk in bed.

It seemed to take forever before they all settled down and Harry felt comfortable enough to slip out of his bed and out of the Gryffindor tower.

Ah, it felt just like old times he thought as he walked down the corridor listening out for any teachers patrolling. He quickly headed in the direction of the library, the potion was his main goal for the evening but if he had time he might just head down to the kitchen and beg for a hot chocolate.

He made it down to the library in record time, he'd not seen or met anyone on the way and felt very pleased with himself. He did after all not have the cloak this time.

He walked to the back of the library and stepped over the rope that marked the entrance to the restricted section, now to find a potions book with the Wolfsbane potion in it. Harry stared in dismay at the sheer number of potions volumes on the bookcases, this was going to take all night!

He read some of the titles on the first shelf and shuddered, _Broth of death…death uncorked…pain draughts. _Well he certainly knew which books to stay clear off.

He'd been there for over two hours now and was starting to despair. None of the books had any reference to the potion at all. Most of the seemed to be health related though, there were several different blood replenishing recipes.

He fought a yawn and decided a cup of chocolate was well deserved for all his hard efforts. He put the last book back on the shelf and quietly made his way out of the library.

The castle was quiet and still around him making him feel relaxed, it was lovely without all the hustle and bustle the students brought with them during the daytime he thought.

He tickled the pear on the picture leading into the kitchen and wasn't really surprised to see the elf's up and about still.

"Hello, sorry to disturb but could I possibly have a cup of chocolate?" Harry asked politely. The elves looked more than happy to have him there in the middle of the night.

"You is sitting there." One of them told him pointing at a small table and chairs in a corner. Harry obligingly walked over and seated himself feeling right at home, happy to simply observe the elves as they kept themselves busy.

A moment later he had not only a steaming cup of chocolate on the table but also a plate piled high with biscuits. He thanked the elves who all looked very happy to have been able to serve him.

In the middle of finishing of his fourth biscuit the portrait to the kitchen suddenly opened and Harry felt his heart constrict at the sight of Dumbledore entering the kitchen wearing a polka dot covered night robe with a matching hat.

"How lovely, midnight company. May I join you Mr Potter?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully.

"Er…of course." Harry said, eyeing the headmaster warily.

"Thank you, dear boy. I always find a nice cup of cocoa to be very beneficial in aiding one to get back to sleep." The man said to the elf that brought a second cup of chocolate to the table. Harry and the headmaster sat in quiet company nursing their drinks. Harry wondered just how much trouble he had gotten himself into.

"Mm, how lovely." Dumbledore said, finally breaking the silence.

"I must however as your headmaster tell you that students should refrain from stepping out of their dormitories after curfew." He added giving Harry a mild look over his glasses.

"Sorry sir, I'll remember." Harry injected quickly fiddling with his now empty cup.

"And students should also try to avoid entering the restricted section of the library as it is in fact restricted." He continued, making Harry blush. How did the man know everything that happened in the castle?

"Er…sure." Harry mumbled shifting on his chair.

"Can I ask what it is that lured you out for your midnight adventure?" Dumbledore asked calmly, not at all in anyway sounding disciplinary. He simply stared at Harry over his half full cup imploringly.

"Er…" Harry faltered, he thought he might be in less trouble if he simply told the truth at this point.

"Well, professor Slughorn asked us to find a difficult potion for our homework and I er…have heard about a potion for werewolves. I thought it would be good to learn it so that I could brew it for my friend." Harry said quickly gazing into his empty cup.

"Ah yes, the Wolfsbane potion. I believe one of Horace's former students invented that particular potion. It would be far too difficult for a first year student to brew I'm afraid." Dumbledore said after a small silence.

"Oh I know, but the professor said the potion we find is something we'll have to aspire to do in the future, something to keep us working hard." Harry exclaimed looking finally at the headmaster with honest eyes. Dumbledore's gaze softened slightly at the earnest look in Harry's eyes.

"I do wonder where you heard of the potion, it is after all still very new and only in its early stages of testing on werewolves." Dumbledore said looking very curious to hear Harry's answer.

"Er…Professor Slughorn must have mentioned it. He does talk quite a lot about his previous students." Harry said, quickly improvising. Dumbledore looked satisfied with the explanation and nodded.

"I'm sure a suitable book may be found in the Gryffindor common room tomorrow morning." The older man said with a small smile. Harry smiled feeling relieved with the turn of events.

"I do think it is time for both young and old to retire to bed." Dumbledore said nodding towards the door. Harry quickly stood.

"Good night then sir. Thank you for the company." He said before heading towards the door.

"Oh and Mr Potter." Harry winced at the words coming from behind his back, cue loss of points and detention, he thought.

"I think five points for stealth, another five for honesty and ten for being a true friend is in order." Dumbledore said when Harry finally gathered enough courage to look at the older man.

Harry couldn't help smiling in delight at the words and he felt twice as happy when he saw the all too familiar twinkle in the blue eyes gazing at him. Not even time could change Albus Dumbledore.

The next morning dawned bright and early. Sirius and James grumbled about it being a Friday which meant double potions with the Slytherins. Remus too didn't look all that happy. Harry on the other hand was bubbling over with excitement.

"What's up with you?" Sirius snapped when started whistling.

"Nothing just happy, potions today." He answered pulling on his clothes quickly, he had to get down to the common room and get the book. He had no doubt about Dumbledore leaving it there he had after all said he would.

"But you didn't find the potion you were looking for." Remus said, trying to keep up with Harry.

"Oh it's down stairs." Harry said before disappearing downstairs. The other boys looked after him confusion.

Harry had barely made it down the stairs before one of their prefects approached him.

"Are you Harry Potter?" He asked. Harry nodded, was he after all in trouble?

"This was on the table downstairs, it's got your name on it." The boy said handing Harry a small brown packet and a small white envelope with his name on top.

"Thanks." Harry said feeling very grateful indeed. He spun around and headed back up to the dormitory.

"Er…Harry where are you going?" James asked as Harry bounced past him on the stairs.

"I need to open the book of course." Harry answered already ripping of the wrapping. _Taming the beast _the title read making Harry sigh in pleasure. He would do this, nothing was going to stop him from helping Remus he thought.

"Who's the letter from? Open it!" James demanded sitting down on Harry's bed waving the letter in front of Harry who'd opened the book eagerly looking for the potion.

"Fine!" Harry snapped after actually getting hit in the face with the letter. He ripped the envelope open and read.

Dear Mr Potter

_The book as promised, please refrain from any more midnight adventures. Next time the negatives might very well outweigh the positives. Hot cocoa is of course never discouraged. _

With kind regards A.D

"You went out in the night?" Sirius asked in a whisper. Harry nodded smiling at the note, typical Dumbledore letter.

"You went out in the middle of the night!" Sirius asked again this time louder.

"Yes, well I had to find the potion so I figured it might be in the restricted section. It wasn't but then I ran into Dumbledore and he said he'd let me borrow the book." Harry answered putting the letter in his trunk for safekeeping. When he turned and looked at the other boys in the room he burst into laughter. They all looked gob smacked, all of them.

"You went out after curfew, went into the restricted section of the library and meet the headmaster? All in one night?" Sirius asked as if wanting clarification. Harry nodded.

"That's…that's…Wow." Sirius said staring at Harry as if he saw him for the first time.

"I thought you were the good one?" Peter piped up making the other three nod.

"Most of the time, yes." Harry said nonchalantly before pocketing the book and heading back towards the door.

"You guys coming then, breakfast and then potions. Chop, chop." He said before disappearing form the doorway. The boys in the dorm stared after him dumbly before scrambling for the door and hurrying after him.

"How many points did he take?" Remus asked as they got seated at the table.

"None, I did earn twenty though for stealth and honesty." Harry answered piling his plate with toast.

"He gave you points for braking rules." Sirius asked looking delighted. He gazed up at the high table where Dumbledore sat talking with McGonagall.

"He's great. Really the best wizard there is." Sirius said, clearly very impressed with the headmaster's discipline, James nodded in agreement excitedly next to him.

"Yes, but next time he'll take points rather than give them I think." Harry said making Sirius shrug. What did points mean when you had such a cool headmaster. He looked at James who smiled at the expression on the other boys face.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" James asked gazing at Sirius who nodded forcefully.

"I think I do. Can't have the good boy here, being naughtier than us. Why we haven't once stepped out after curfew. And I hadn't even thought about the restricted section, shame on us." Sirius said stuffing his toast in his mouth. James started shuffling food in quickly as well, whilst Harry groaned.

"I was very, very bad! You should not sneak out after curfew and definitely not to the restricted section of the…" He trailed off, as the terrible two shot away from the table no doubt for some morning planning. Harry gazed up at the head table and gave McGonagall an apologetic look.

"Sorry." He mouthed which she seemed to understand as she shook her head and grabbed another cup of coffee.

Lily who'd been sitting further up the table with Alice moved down to join Harry and Remus. Peter left the hall with a Hufflepuff boy he'd made friends with.

"What are those troublemakers up to now?" She asked curiously making Harry groan.

"Harry gave them an idea." Remus mumbled, making Harry groan again.

"What could Harry possibly had said that they would take as an idea for causing trouble?" Lily asked, making Alice nod next to her. Remus looked at Harry with a small twinkle in his eyes.

"Harry was a bad boy yesterday." He whispered making the girls lean forwards.

"No!" Lily gasped.

"You didn't! You helped them with a prank? I thought you were the good one?" She asked looking very confused.

"I didn't prank anyone, I just needed to find a book that's all." Harry defended himself feeling slightly hot around the neck.

"He sneaked out in the night and went to the library." Remus said chuckling slightly at the embarrassed look on Harry's face.

"You went out after curfew?" Snape drawled behind Harry, who felt like crawling under the table.

"Hi Sev." Lily said cheerfully smiling brightly at the sallow faced boy. Snape flushed slightly and gave her a small smile in return.

"Potions." Harry interjected quickly wanting to lead the conversation away from him causing trouble after being the one to tell James and Sirius of at all times. Snape nodded looking eager for the lesson to start.

"What potion did you choose?" The boy asked Harry.

"The Wolfsbane potion. It's still an experimental potion but it's designed to help werewolves during their transformation, making them keep their minds when changed." Harry said lightly, avoiding Remus eyes. Snape looked stunned.

"We're allowed to choose experimental potions? I didn't know that so I choose Veritaserum." Snape said eyeing Harry curiously. Remus Harry noticed was very quiet, he hoped it wasn't in anger. Snape and Harry chatted about different potions on the way to class.

Snape was, Harry thought, not ever going to be anything but a potions master. For a first year he was simply a genius when it came to potions, sure he wasn't quite there in the brewing but the knowledge he had on potions was impressive.

The lesson progressed well and when Slughorn asked them to hand in their choice of potion Harry felt real excitement about continuing with the subject. He wondered when they'd be allowed to start brewing.

As the lesson ended Harry took his time gathering his supplies and books.

"You go on, I'll meet you in the hall." He said watching the others leave the classroom.

"Professor, may I ask you something?" Harry approached the teacher's desk, where Slughorn was looking through their parchments.

"Of course my boy, questions are a teachers joy after all." Slughorn answered putting the rolls away.

"Well er…I was wondering about whether there is a spell that could block the smell from the other cauldrons from reaching you when brewing?" Harry asked thinking of Remus' problem with potions.

"Well now, what an interesting question my boy. Very interesting indeed!" Slughorn exclaimed loudly looking very excited by the question.

"There is a spell that can be used around the workstation, some potions are very sensitive after all to smells. And at other times one needs to have no distractions form other smells of course. The spell is Odorous Perimitus." He waved his wand in a square which Harry copied paying minute attention to the professors wand movements.

"Very good my boy, very good! Take five points for a very well asked question and another five for learning the spell. Good work is to be awarded after all!" The professor boomed.

"Thank you sir for both the time and the expertise." Harry said feeling very happy with himself he hurried of towards the hall for some well earned lunch. He and the other boys had made plans for a game of Quidditch after lunch as they had a free afternoon.

He couldn't wait to teach Remus the spell, why should the other boy have a harder time than the rest of them when there was an easy solution to his problems in class. The others spared him a look but didn't comment on his good mood. They all gathered he'd either asked for more homework or asked about the next lesson, it was a well know fact that Harry was a teachers pet after all.

They had a good time on the pitch where they were joined by some of the upper years in a friendly game. Remus and Peter both opted for staying on the ground not really having the heads for heights. Besides just watching Harry doing his death defying dives was enough for many a students on the ground.

_Like it? Then review please Mina_


	8. Crash and Burn

_Thank you so much for all the reviews I've received, they made me really happy: )Things will start to change with this chapter…Mina_

**Crash and Burn**

Halloween was slowly creeping up on the school with most of the students looking forwards to the promised feast.

"I heard they'll have a chocolate fountain and we'll be able to go swimming in it." Peter was telling his Hufflepuff friend excitedly as they were walking in front of Harry and Remus towards the great hall on a Saturday after having been out on the grounds.

Harry mentally sighed, Peter was not what he'd expected. Not only did he hang out with the Hufflepuff's more than the Gryffindor's but he was also very quiet and shy. Most shocking to Harry was the fact that Iggy liked the boy.

Iggy had been quick to defend himself by pointing out that Peter was just an eleven old boy not a Deatheater, and that he might not ever actually become one. It had taken Harry a while but the reality of Iggy's statement was slowly setting in. Things were different. There had not been a Harry Potter, brother of James Potter before. Things were bound to change in other ways as well.

Thinking of things that had changed, Harry glanced at Remus who'd been very quiet ever since Harry had revealed his chosen potion. The other boy had not mentioned Harry's choice at all, he'd not in fact mentioned anything about the whole werewolf situation.

"Remus, do you think we could have a chat later? Alone." Harry whispered making Remus nod slightly whilst pretending great interest in his food. Good Harry thought, now their only problem was where to talk, he did not want the chance of them being overheard.

"What are you two whispering about and can we get in on the secret?" Sirius whispered loudly snickering in James's direction. Remus suddenly looked nervous whilst Harry rolled his eyes.

"Sure, we're going to ask for more homework in all the subjects and then ask if we could take the O.W.L's early with the fifth years." Harry said in a serious voice trying to look excited at the prospect. Remus snorted at Sirius horrified look and gave Harry a relived smile.

"Not really?" Sirius asked having missed the snort and looking at Harry who maintained his serious but excited face.

"Why not? We'll be able to join the sixth year next year and then graduate early, it's clearly the best option for us." Harry said, he couldn't believe Sirius was buying it. James who was seated next to the dark haired boy was shaking with suppressed laughter having heard Remus's snort and grown used to Harry's strange humour during the summer.

"You're not serious are you" The boy asked eyeing Harry strangely, why would anyone want to do the test early? Harry eyed the boy who'd one day turned into his godfather and sighed with satisfaction before grinning broadly.

"Of course not, you are!" Harry said cheerfully, he'd always wanted to say that to his godfather and now he'd been handed the chance on a silver plate.

Remus and James couldn't hold it in any longer it seemed as they both exploded with laughter. Several students seated near the younger boys couldn't help chuckling either having heard the entire conversation. Sirius glared at the smirking Harry before rolling his eyes.

"I knew you weren't serious." He grumbled making James laugh harder. Harry nodded at the boy's words seriously.

"Of course you did." Harry said neutrally taking a sip of his pumpkin juice. Sirius gave him a light shove before finally cracking a smile himself.

Having spent the rest of the lunch alternatively chatting with the others and trying to think of a privet place he and Remus could talk, he now felt like grabbing a plate and smacking himself over the head with it. The room of Requirement, duh…

He felt very nervous leading Remus along the corridor, was the other boy very upset with him? He wondered.

"Er, Harry where are we going?" Remus asked, looking around himself confused.

"Secret place I found on one of my little walks." Harry answered vaguely. They had made it to the right spot but Harry could see some students up ahead and motioned for Remus to wait. Harry leaned against the wall trying to look inconspicuous whilst Remus looked at him in confusion.

"Harry, what…" Remus didn't get the chance to finish his question before Harry shushed him. Really, Remus was usually quicker on the uptake than this. They waited for the small group of Ravenclaw girls to walk past before Harry walked back and forwards three times opposite of the picture of Barnabas the barmy. Remus who had followed close on Harry's heel bumped into the other boy when Harry made his first turn and then stood staring at Harry as if he'd lost his mind. When the door suddenly appeared he gasped in surprise.

"Remus I present to you, the room of requirement!" Harry presented grandly as soon as they'd entered the room fully and closed the door. Remus stared in awe at their dormitory suddenly having appeared out of nothing whilst Harry bounced over to his bed and sat enjoying the look on Remus's face.

"How did you? Where? What?" Harry laughed at the stuttering Remus before the other boy seemed to get a hold of himself and slowly moved towards the bed.

"Is this our dormitory?" Remus finally asked seating himself on Harry's bed as he always did when they sat chatting.

"Nope, just a nice imitation. The room makes itself into whatever we want." Harry answered, smiling when Iggy suddenly flashed in landing on his perch that the room had supplied.

"Wow." Remus said impressed before eyeing Harry nervously and then pulling at the quilt gently with his fingers.

"Are you upset with me?" Harry asked, thinking he was so not good at the whole what-can-I-do-to-make-things-right-again thing. Remus looked up looking confused.

"You? I thought maybe you didn't want to be friends anymore. You know because of…I mean I know you said…but maybe you…" Remus trailed of not meeting Harry's eyes.

"Of course I still want to be your friend! I thought you were angry at me because I mentioned the Wolfsbane potion to Snape?" Harry quickly interjected.

"Are you? Angry that is?" He asked, eyeing Remus nervously. The other boy looked positively elated.

"You do? Really? You really don't mind?" Remus asked looking searchingly at Harry.

"Course not, it's not your fault you turn into a werewolf every full moon." Harry said calmly rolling his eyes. Remus gave a laugh or was it a sob? Harry wasn't quite sure as the other boy was looking down on the bed again.

"I've never had anyone else know. A friend I mean." Remus said not looking up from the quilt which he was smoothing out with his hand.

"I was…the werewolf bit me when I was four." Remus whispered suddenly making Harry gasp quietly.

"It was horrible." Remus continued almost without realising.

"I thought he was going to eat me. Sometimes I wish it had." He whispered.

"I'm glad it didn't! Can you imagine me alone with James and Sirius? I'd probably end up joining them and then we'd be kicked out of school." Harry said lightly wanting to pull Remus away from revealing something he might regret later. Remus looked up and gave Harry a watery smile.

"I didn't think I'd be allowed to come here, but professor Dumbledore said I could." Remus said, it sounded almost as if something had suddenly snapped inside him and the words just came gushing out. Harry sat staring, feeling almost a little guilty to be listening, his Remus had never told him all of this.

"Harry, how did you know? What I am, I mean?" Remus suddenly asked eyeing him questioningly.

"I knew someone who was a werewolf, an adult. He was great!" Harry said with feeling, smiling slightly at the thought of the older man. Remus looked very interested.

"What was he like? Did he have a job?" Remus asked.

"He was a Defence against the dark arts teacher for a while." Harry said making the other boy smile wistfully.

"He worked with other people?" Remus asked as if to confirm that Harry spoke of a real teacher job. Harry nodded making Remus bite his lip in thought.

"My dad's told me I'll never be able to work with people, everyone is afraid of werewolves." Remus said calmly as if already resigned to the idea.

"You can be whatever you want to be Remus! It might be harder but it doesn't mean you have to give up." Harry said leaning forwards.

"One day there will be a cure or people will wake up and realise what fools they are and you'll want to be ready to seize the moment when it happens. So you just make sure to get where you want to go and worry about the rest as it comes." Harry said believing every word.

Hadn't he himself walked towards death so many times already, fought so many battles? And here he was, in the past with his real family. He was normal, everything he'd ever wanted to be. He was Harry. He'd ceased the day, just grabbed it and there was nothing in the world stopping him.

Remus eyed him in awe, making Harry blush. They both looked down on the bed.

"Is there really a potion called Wolfsbane?" Remus suddenly asked looking up from the bed.

"Sure, it's a new potion though. I'm not sure if it's actually been tested on kids yet. But I'm going to find out." Harry said determinately.

"It's not a cure, but it's supposed to make you remember who you are, so you'll be in control." Harry added quickly, wanting to make sure Remus didn't see the potion as an end to being a werewolf.

"I hope I can have that one day." Remus said with a small quiver in his voice.

"You will because I'm going to learn how to brew it, and I don't care how long it takes!" Harry said forcefully smiling at the look on Remus's face.

"I'll help you. No I want to!" Remus said, quickly lifting his hand as if to stop Harry protesting, when Harry opened his mouth.

"Good, I think that would be great." Harry said when Remus finally allowed him speech, making the other boy sob. Harry suddenly found himself in a painfully tight hug.

"You're my best, best friend Harry!" Remus exclaimed before bursting into tears his whole body shaking. Harry was horrified, what on earth was he supposed to do now he wondered. He awkwardly patted Remus on the back.

"You're mine as well." He said finally, not feeling too guilty at the slippery thought of Ron, which he quickly pushed to the back of his mind.

Harry didn't know how long he sat there holding on to the other boy before realising with a start that Remus had fallen asleep. He chuckled slightly and gently lay the other boy down thinking it might do him good to sleep. Iggy flew over and sat with Harry, both of them looking at the tired first year boy. They'd make sure he was safe, Harry thought stroking Iggy softly.

It wasn't until hours later that the boys left the room and headed down for dinner slightly embarrassed but happy.

They were bombarded with questions from a curious Sirius and a slightly put out looking James, both boys managed to avoid having too answer to many questions by saying the word studying.

They all headed outside to hang out by the lake and on their way down there they ran into Peter who looked very upset.

"What's wrong Pete?" James asked curiously making the other boy mumble.

"What?" James asked again.

"I'm fine." Peter said looking everything but fine. But as he quickly headed inside the rest of them just shrugged. Probably homesick or something Harry thought, feeling a small tug of unease at not having asked the boy to stay with them.

"Harry look at me!" James shouted making Harry turn in the direction of his voice. Harry's heart froze, literally froze in fear.

"James get away from it! Get away!" Harry shouted in real fear, James was standing dangerously close to the Whomping willow teasing the branches to come closer. Harry who knew exactly how vicious the tree was knew James was in serious trouble.

"It's just a tree." James said turning towards Harry.

"Move!" Harry and Sirius both shouted making James run towards them. One of the willows branches missed his head by inches and made his hair dance wildly around his head.

"Wow, I didn't know it could do that!" James said looking slightly abashed. Sirius grinned at him and raised his hand for a high five.

"Of all the foolhardy things to do James Potter!" Professor McGonagall screamed as she came racing out towards them.

"Don't you ever do that again…" Harry shouted sounding just as stern as the professor.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" McGonagall snapped.

"…you could have had your head snapped of! That was the most stupid thing you've ever done!" Harry continued, disregarding the professor completely. James stood there mouth agape and stared at them.

"Well!" They both snapped as one. James started laughing at the sight of them, hands on their hips and glares on their faces. Professor McGonagall didn't approve of the reaction however and soon had his ear in a tight grip.

"We are going to have a nice conversation with your mother, she has asked to be informed of anymore foolhardy behaviour and this is the limit!" The professor snapped again as she dragged him towards the castle ignoring all his protestations of just playing about. Sirius and Remus glanced carefully at Harry who stood staring after their head of house and his brother looking slightly pale.

"Why is he doing this to me?" Harry mumbled, rubbing his hand against his chest where his heart slowly started getting back to a more normal rhythm. Sirius and Remus both eyed him worriedly before following as he slowly made it back towards the castle.

It was a more subdued James that made it down to the great hall for breakfast on the Sunday morning. Rumours had it he'd gotten in big trouble with the head of his house who'd fire called his mother about his behaviour.

"I don't know why they planted that tree there anyway." A fifth year Gryffindor said getting several nods in agreement. Remus who was seated next to Harry as usual sank lower in his seat.

"Just ignore them." Harry whispered making both James and Remus nod morosely.

"Mum was really mad, said she might take my broom away if I don't start behaving." James said looking very sad. Sirius looked scandalised.

"But you didn't get hurt!" He gasped as if that made all the difference.

"Mm, but unless I start thinking of the consequences of my behaviour she's going to start confiscating things. The broom is only one thing, she's threatening to take my collection of vintage Zonko products too." James said looking even more downtrodden. Sirius looked awed.

"She's really angry isn't she? I thought your mother didn't punish you." Sirius said finally. Harry felt slightly shocked that James remembered the conversation at all as he usually stopped listening as soon as an adult went into lecturing mode. Having found the right sort of incentive worked, Harry guessed.

Remus moved to leave the table and Harry who guessed that the boy was sad about the tree being his fault followed.

"I'm sorry." Remus said after they'd left the hall.

"What for?" Harry asked.

"They planted the tree for me." He said not looking at Harry.

"Wow that's amazing." Harry said, making Remus's head whip round. He'd clearly not envisioned that reaction.

"Just think, twenty years from now and that tree will still stand tall. You've left a lasting legacy here that says; I will not bow down for anyone, I will fight for my rightful place in the wizarding world. You may be the first, but now you've paved the way for the future." Harry said, feeling proud of his little speech. Remus eyed him in wonder before starting to laugh.

"I really like you Harry, you're a good friend." He said, putting his arm lightly across Harry's shoulder. Harry grinned in triumph.

Neither noticed the aging headmaster that walked behind them with a slightly shocked look on his face.

Harry who'd neglected to finish his history homework made his way towards the library alone. He was trying to find some information on the goblin rebellions, which always seemed to be taught in Binns class. Several hours later and Harry felt as if he'd just had one of the dreaded history lessons after having finally finished his homework.

There was a small tap on his shoulder and Harry turned to see Peter standing behind him.

"Harry can I talk to you?" Peter asked looking uncomfortable. Harry shrugged and motioned for the quiet boy to sit by his table.

"I…I don't think you should play with Sirius anymore." Peter said wringing his hands nervously. Harry stared at the boy.

"What?" He asked, wondering if he'd misunderstood the statement.

"I don't think you should be with Sirius anymore and you should tell James as well." Peter said again finally meeting Harry's eyes. Harry felt the anger building, how dare he?

"What right do you have to tell me who to be friends with?" Harry sneered. This was the man who'd sentenced his best friend to thirteen years in Azkaban. Harry knew he should have trusted his instincts. Once rotten, always rotten.

"Harry I just want what's best for…" Peter trailed off, looking very nervous all of a sudden.

"What's best!" Harry snapped, sneering at the boy. Peter looked as if Harry had physically struck him.

"Get away from me you rat!" Harry screamed before turning and rushing out of the library needing as much space as possible between himself and Pettigrew.

He had just about calmed down when he entered the hall for lunch and sat down with Remus, Alice and Lily.

"Did you finish it?" Remus asked, looking inquiringly at Harry who nodded stiffly.

"Is it true about James getting in trouble with your mom?" Lily asked eyeing Harry speculatively. Harry nodded again and shuffled some potatoes into his mouth as an excuse not to have to talk. He was afraid he'd say something very bad if he opened his mouth.

"Well I think it's good that she disciplines him." Lily said approvingly. Alice rolled her eyes.

"I don't think it was that bad. I mean it was dangerous but I'm sure he didn't mean to get himself hurt or anything. Besides he and Sirius mainly do harmless things now for their jokes. It's actually quite funny sometimes." Alice said ignoring Lily's look of shock.

"I can't believe you said that!" Lily gasped making Alice roll her eyes again.

"Oh please, even you thought the pillow fight was fun!" Alice said eyeing the now blushing Lily as if daring her to disagree.

"Fine! I guess they're getting a little better. But only a little mind." Lily conceded. Harry stared, what? they were getting better? He hadn't noticed, but then again he tried not to get involved with the pranks. He was the good twin after all, he thought with a small grin.

"That's good, mum's threatening to take away his things if he continues to behave badly." Harry said, bad mood forgotten. They spent the rest of the lunch in friendly banter.

Harry and Remus were headed in the direction of the Owlery awhile later, Remus had a letter to post home.

"I'm telling you, our master will be most pleased with us for finding the boy. We have to inform him of the boy being here in the castle as soon as possible. My foolish little Gryffindor cousin refuses to prove his loyalty by spying on the brat and the little lions are proving most loyal." A girls voice said.

Harry and Remus both froze at the sound of voices from the Owlery. They stopped by the side of the doorway and Harry could just about make out that the girl speaking was Bellatrix. She stood with her back against them whilst the boy she was speaking with stood stroking a black, vicious looking bird softly.

"And if you are wrong about the boy? What then? Do you know how he shows his displeasure Bella? I hear he uses the crutiatus on anyone foolish enough to be an annoyance. I will not chance that because you have a feeling about the boy." The boy said looking down at the bird perched on his arm.

"But Rodolphus, the boy simply appeared one day and was taken into the Potter family. He appeared on the same day as the dark lord meet the dark haired, green-eyed boy. It can't be a coincident, besides the boy is strange. He knows things he shouldn't, I have been watching him when he doesn't know it. He's definitely the one our master wants." Bellatrix said earnestly moving towards Rodolphus who looked unconvinced.

"Won't you do it for me, I am your intended after all." She said lightly, stroking his chin suggestively. Rodolphus smiled suddenly and let the glaring bird back up on a perch.

Harry dragged Remus away from the doorway before the two Slytherins started making their way out and spotted them, his heart was pounding. The boys quickly and quietly ran down the corridor and entered an unused classroom.

"What was she talking about?" Remus whispered as soon as the door closed, he stuffed his letter in one of his pockets and stared at Harry.

"Damn, she's a Deatheater. I should have known." Harry muttered furiously to himself.

"Harry what was she talking about" Remus asked again, eyeing Harry who was stalking back and forwards in front of him.

"She was talking about this summer. I meet Voldemort, he and his Deatheaters were attacking some muggles in London. I…my…" Harry found it hard to lie about being in an orphanage to Remus and trailed off.

"My dad was reading about it, how there was this boy that the bad man tried to hurt and that the boy stood up to him. That was you?" Remus asked. Harry eyed him surprised, he hadn't known anything about being in the newspaper. He nodded making Remus's eyes go big.

"Harry, dad said the man used a really bad curse on the boy, you." He gasped looking horrified. Harry shrugged, he'd had worse after all.

"Look we should get back to the common room. I really don't want them to find us." Harry said suddenly feeling a bit strange.

Remus nodded and they carefully made it back to the Gryffindor common room where they were meet by whispers.

James and Sirius waved them over to the corner they sat in. Harry noticed that Professor McGonagall stood talking with the prefects quietly.

"What's happened?" Harry asked, making James glare when Harry eyed him speculatively.

"I didn't do anything!" He snapped defensively. Sirius snorted at his friend.

"We don't know, she just came in and told everyone to stay in the common room." Sirius answered. Harry turned to stare some more at their head of house. It seemed most of the Gryffindor's were in fact in the room at the moment.

"I am sorry to say that I bring some bad news." Professor McGonagall finally said after clapping her hands once to get their attention.

"There has been some attacks on muggleborn families during the night." There were several gasps heard at this and the professor waited patiently for them to go silent again.

"The attack was led by Lord Voldemort..." Here McGonagall looked as if she wanted to call the man anything but Lord. There were whispers breaking out, before once again she held everyone's attention.

"…and his Deatheater's. It is with deepest regret that I have to tell you that our own Miss May has had to leave the school to be with her grandparents as her parents were killed." Several of the fourth year girls burst into tears, as they were her roommates.

"There were also three other families from Hogwarts touched by this despicable act of cruelty, Mr Cornett and Miss Hughes from Hufflepuff and Miss Beech from Ravenclaw." McGonagall said her lips tightly pursed together.

"I will stay here if anyone needs to talk, and I hope that you will all spare a thought for your classmates in this terrible time." Their head of house seated herself with a heavy sigh in one of the armchairs and waved one of the crying girls over, looking as if she wanted to shed a tear herself.

The room felt heavy with the weight of what their professor had told them. The students were all grimfaced, some had left the common room for the dormitories in favour of writing to loved ones. Others gathered together in groups and held quiet discussions.

Harry sat there, feeling as if the rug had been pulled form under his feet. He didn't get it, it was safe here.

Yes he'd seen Voldemort earlier in the summer, right after killing him in fact. But that hadn't felt real. Sure he'd felt the Crutiatus curse when he'd been hit by it, but what followed had felt like a dream come true.

He had all he'd ever wanted. Voldemort didn't know who he was, nobody knew who he was. He was just Harry. Not the boy-who-lived, expected to save the day.

He looked around the common room as if seeing it for the first time. Looked at the scared students seated around him. He didn't really know them. They weren't the ones he'd grown up with.

This wasn't supposed to be happening. It was supposed to be over, he got his family and Voldemort died. No more Prophecy's, no more people dying.

"Harry, are you alright?" Remus asked quietly making Harry turn and stare at him with empty eyes. You're dead, Harry thought suddenly. He shivered violently making Remus eye him worriedly.

"James, I don't think Harry's feeling very good." Remus said, getting James and Sirius attention. They'd been listening to one of the older boys talking about You-Know-Who, Remus's words made them both turn and look at the now violently shaking Harry.

"They're all dead." Harry whispered, making Remus go pale.

"I think we should tell the professor." Remus said sounding scared, he rushed towards McGonagall, leaving Harry with the terrified looking James and Sirius.

Harry couldn't stop shaking, it felt like the ground was moving. He looked around trying to spot Ron or Hermione in the crowded room. He couldn't see anyone he knew.

He pushed himself up from the chair so hard that it tipped backwards with a great bang making the room go quiet as people turned and stared.

He couldn't breath, there was no air going down to his lungs. And why was it so hot, he felt as if the air was scorching him. He could feel hands pushing and pulling and fought to get them off him. He looked around wildly trying to see anyone he knew but the room was spinning and black shadows were dancing in front of his eyes before finally everything went black.

_Ohhh… What do you think? Reviews please. Mina_


	9. A nice little Riddle

_Thank you so much for all the reviews again, and sorry for the wait. It's manic at the moment. The kids I look after are on Easter break, I have my driving theory test and an assessment interview for college all within a one week period. Ahhhhh my brain is melting…_

_Well on with the story, hope you like it._

_Mina_

**A nice little riddle.**

Harry woke up slowly in stages. He opened his eyes at a questioning chirp from above his head, Iggy was seated on the headboard of the bed he was lying on.

"I think I'm fine." Harry croaked in answer, his was parched. Iggy bent his neck down and tapped Harry on the head with his beak before flashing off.

"Thanks for the company." Harry mumbled, wondering where Iggy was headed. It would've been nice if he'd stayed longer. Maybe he thought Harry was being a little pathetic.

Harry couldn't believe he'd fainted.

He, Harry, who had met all sorts of scary beasts, Deatheaters and Voldemort had fainted at hearing bad news.

Yes it was a bit like being hit on the head, Voldemort really was here and causing trouble, but still…

Harry shifted in the bed and groaned as his body ached. Maybe he had been attacked after all he wondered. He was definitely in pain.

He tried to remember what it was that had happened. Professor McGonagall had told them about the families being killed and then he'd had a hard time breathing.

Maybe someone had cursed him? He definitely liked that scenario better than just fainting, he decided.

He pulled a hand through his hair and stared in disgust at the trembling in his hand. He'd lived through worse things than this damn it! Hadn't he seen Remus and all the others dead in this very building, heard of death and fought in battles.

He stared at his hand, which seemed to have gone from trembling to shaking, and was it suddenly getting hot in here?

It was getting hard to breath. It must be a curse or a hex. He was gasping for breath now, dark spots were dancing in front of his eyes.

"Mr Potter! Calm yourself immediately!" Madam Pomfrey screamed, rushing out of her office.

"Open up and swallow!" She ordered, pouring a potion down his throat making him gag.

Whatever it was, was fast working. Harry could feel nice fresh air entering his lungs and his muscles relaxed. He started feeling slightly light headed and his eyes were drooping down.

"There you are, all better now." Pomfrey said gently, smoothing out his bed covers. Harry nodded and giggled at the funny sensation it caused in his head. And when he looked around things looked slightly weird around him, a bit out of focus.

"That's right, you're alright. Perfectly safe here." Pomfrey said making him turn and stare.

"You look funny." He giggled, her hat was really big all of a sudden, he thought. She just shook her head and smiled.

"Side effect from the potion, I'm afraid." She said gently, but Harry was staring at the wall now, fascinated with the moving pattern, he'd never noticed that before.

The infirmary door opened making Pomfrey turn, Harry ignored it however still in awe with the wall.

"How is he?" Dumbledore asked softly coming closer to the bed, looking relieved to see Harry awake.

"I just had to give him a calming draft, he had another attack the poor dear." Madam Pomfrey answered. Harry giggled again so it had been an attack, he thought happily.

"I should have been informed of his medical history before he arrived at the school, and definitely not from the boys brother." Madam Pomfrey said in a disapproving tone. Dumbledore nodded and looked suitably chastised.

" I myself didn't know of the boys history. I had heard rumours of course before the start of term but was unsure of the truth." He said, obviously trying to smooth things out. The snort from the medi-witch told him he'd not succeeded fully. Harry giggled again, thinking of how fierce Pomfrey could get when she was in the mood. He could see her duelling Dumbledore out of the ward.

"That would be wicked." Harry mumbled lost in his daydream.

"What would, my boy?" Dumbledore asked gently, but Harry was slowly drifting in his own thoughts and didn't pay any attention to the adults.

"I trust his parents have spoken with you?" Dumbledore asked, attention on Pomfrey again.

"Yes, they finally gave me all the information they have about the boy, which isn't much considering they only adopted him this summer. He'd been put under the Crutiatus Albus! He's just a small child…" Pomfrey mumbled looking at Harry sadly.

"Those monsters don't have any scruples attacking defenceless children and muggles." She added angrily. Dumbledore led her to a small table and chairs and they got seated, still within sight of Harry.

"Yes his parents told me, it would seem the Dark Lord himself placed the boy under it." Dumbledore said, looking at Harry, who was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"His father said that the dark lord tried and failed at putting the boy under the Imperius." Pomfrey said, looking at the headmaster for confirmation.

"He did. There are several eyewitness accounts from both the muggles and several Aurors. Young Mr Potter here simply shook it off." Dumbledore said making her gasp and turn and stare at Harry with equal amounts of worry and awe.

"Such a small boy against someone like the dark lord." She mumbled before shaking her head.

"Even a failed Imperius will affect the mind, the boy should have been to a healer for check ups. Why, simply seeing such violence is enough to cause damage in a child this young." She snapped, standing up. She bustled over to Harry and smoothed the bed cover and patted his head softly. Harry was all but lost in sleep and just sighed at the contact.

"I'm sure his parents did what they thought best. And there have been no warning that he was still affected negatively from this summers happenings. Why all his teachers have said he's an outgoing, happy and deeply affectionate boy. I believe he's top student academically, nothing to indicate that he was feeling depressed." Dumbledore said rising and stepping closer to Harry as well. Pomfrey looked annoyed however.

"Yes he seems to have buried his emotions and anxieties deep. I was slightly alarmed at his behaviour earlier in the term however." She said getting Dumbledore's full attention.

"Oh, how so?" He asked sounding very interested.

"He's a very caring boy, always looking after his brother and friends. But sometimes he's just too caring. Why he had the nerve to interrogate me on the health of his brother. And not in the normal sense, he's just too mature at times." Pomfrey said looking irked.

"Ah, yes Minerva did mention that he's very protective of his brother. I myself have noticed this when he deals with his friends too. Why the way he interacts with Mr Lupin is just…I find it hard to put to words frankly." Dumbledore said. Pomfrey nodded thoughtfully.

"He's been a great influence on that poor boy. He's been telling me all about his new best friend whilst having his weekly checkups." Pomfrey said smiling.

Suddenly the door opened making Pomfrey and Dumbledore turn. James, Sirius and Remus stood in the doorway with defiant looks on their faces.

"He's my brother, and I have a right to be here!" James declared, eyeing the headmaster daringly.

"And he's my best friend!" Remus added with clenched fists.

"Well you should definitely be here then." Dumbledore said waving them in making them eyed him in surprise.

"See I told you he'd be fine about it." Sirius whispered loudly, grinning at James who gave him a small smile back.

James hurried forwards and grabbed one of Harry's hands gently. Remus carefully edged around the headmaster and claimed the other hand. Harry snapped his eyes open making Sirius whoop with glee.

"He's ok!" He shouted, before being hushed by the Matron. Harry giggled at the sight of them.

"You're so little!" He gushed. The others looked at him confused making Dumbledore chuckle.

"Mr Potter has been given a calming potion and is slightly befuddled at the moment." He explained to the others. Remus was looking from Harry to the headmaster.

"Harry and I heard two of the Slytherins talking in the Owlery. They were talking about the dark lord." Remus said quickly, fidgeting under the attention from the headmaster.

"I think they were talking about Harry. He, the dark lord had told them to find out stuff about Harry. They were going to send a letter to him and stuff…" Remus trailed off. Harry nodded from the bed.

"Yep, Voldemort likes to know stuff about me." He said absentmindedly whilst patting James hand.

"This would be Bellatrix Black and Rodolphus Lestrange I take" Dumbledore asked Remus, who looked guiltily at Sirius before nodding.

"She's mad my cousin, she asked me about Harry too, but I told her to stuff it." Sirius mumbled eyeing James worriedly.

"Why does Voldemort want to know about Harry anyway?" James asked confused. Harry opened his mouth to tell them all about the prophesy, dying and being the boy-who-lived, but was interrupted by the arrival of Iggy.

"Fawkes my friend, how lovely to have you join us." Dumbledore said, smiling at the sight of the Phoenix.

"That's Iggy!" The three Gryffindor's said as one, at the same time as Fawkes appeared. Harry couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Dumbledore's face when looking at the two phoenixes on the hospital bed.

"This one is Iggy." James said, pointing at the phoenix in question.

"See he has that golden zigzag on his head." James continued making both Harry and Dumbledore lean forwards. So that's where his scar had gone, Harry thought.

"You have a phoenix?" Dumbledore asked, looking stunned. Harry nodded whilst petting his Iggy.

"He sleeps in our dormitory." Remus said quietly, stroking the phoenix softly.

"You won't send him away will you?" Remus asked suddenly looking worried. Sirius snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, please! As if he's gonna say Harry's phoenix can't stay. Hello!" He exclaimed pointing at Fawkes.

"Quite right my boy, no need to worry." Dumbledore said smiling at Sirius antics.

"I am intrigued though. When did your friend, Iggy, join you?" He asked.

"This summer." Harry answered truthfully.

"Am I right in saying that he joined you after your run in with Voldemort?" Dumbledore asked, looking at Harry intently.

"Yes, the same day." Harry answered after a short deliberation whilst eyeing Iggy. Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.

"Ah, I thought as much, makes sense." He said looking as if he did know all. Harry stared at him confused, why did Iggy joining him make sense he wondered. Madam Pomfrey, who'd been eyeing the two phoenixes with wonder, fidgeted slightly.

"It is almost lunch time headmaster, and Mr Potter here needs his rest." She said eyeing Dumbledore pointedly.

"Ah, I believe we will be enjoying a scrumptious meal. Why don't you boy's go ahead and eat and maybe Madam Pomfrey will consent to having you back for a visit." The headmaster said, smiling at the twin looks of protest from James and Remus and the look of hunger on Sirius.

"Come on James, we'll be back soon Harry." Sirius said dragging James out of the hospital wing.

"I'll be back soon too." Remus promised after receiving a look from Pomfrey. He shuffled out slowly.

"I will be having a conversation with Miss Black and Mr Lestrange, Mr Pettigrew alerted your head of house to the fact that they'd been threatening some of the first years in your house." Harry nodded, he was slowly coming back to himself and hearing Peter mentioned was giving him a tummy ache. He had a feeling he'd overreacted before, and that Peter had tried to warn him. He owed the little boy a big apology.

Dumbledore looked at the two phoenixes seated on the headboard of Harry's bed before shaking his head in wonder.

"You really are a strange little riddle." He muttered, looking down at Harry who was yawning tiredly.

"I am not a riddle! I'm a Potter!" Harry exclaimed upset that Dumbledore would think he was in any way related to that man.

"So you are." Dumbledore stuttered, eyeing Harry in shock.

"That is enough Headmaster! Out!" Madam Pomfrey ordered, stalking out of her office. She did not approve of anyone upsetting her patients. Dumbledore left the ward looking deeply shaken.

Harry spent a very boring day in the hospital wing, only bearable because of the visits from his friends. Why even Snape made an appearance, lending Harry a book to read and a letter.

Harry had put both on the side table with thanks and promises of reading both when alone making the boy grin slightly, pleased it seemed with the response.

He didn't have time to look at his gifts until Madam Pomfrey kicked the others out at bedtime, Remus being the last to leave.

The book was a potions book no surprise there, the letter however was something different. It was not from Snape but from Professor Slughorn.

My Dear Boy

So sad to hear of your illness, but astounded at your resilience. Why to keep yourself together this long after such hardship, what spirit.  
I am writing to invite you to my little Halloween gathering on the 31st at 6pm in my rooms. I am sure you have heard of my previous parties and understand I only invite the most promising students.

I do hope you will consider coming as I have taken the initiative and invited my former student Damocles Belby who is very interested in meeting you. I have told him all about you of course. How bright a boy you are and all.

_With the most sincerest hopes that your health improves._

_Slytherin head of house, Potions master, H.E.F Slughorn_

Harry wasn't quite sure what to feel. On one hand he did want to go, so that he could talk with the man that created the Wolfsbane potion but on the other he wanted nothing to do with the mans collection of promising students, as he knew who else had been a member. He sighed knowing that he would be going and dreading the farce it was no doubt going to be.

"Mr Potter, lights out." Madam Pomfrey said softly from her office doorway. She smiled when he pulled his glasses of without arguing.

"You'll be able to join you classmates tomorrow if you sleep well through the night." She added making him smile brightly.

He couldn't wait to get out of here. She'd made him talk about his emotions and that dreadful day in the summer. It had been weird, how was he supposed to know what he'd been feeling.

She insisted that he'd had a panic attack. Harry who'd asked what kind of hex that caused it had been appalled to hear it wasn't a hex at all. Not even a curse.

Merely his mind not being able to cope with all that had happened to him.

Which when he thought about his former life and his new one, kind of did make sense. His mind had coped with quite a lot to be honest, so he guessed he shouldn't be too harsh on himself.

The next morning Harry woke with a smile on his face. He'd had a great nights sleep and was allowed to leave for breakfast and lessons.

"You will come here on Friday again for a chat, and if you feel worried you are to come straight here. Do you understand?" Madam Pomfrey said, sounding quite stern when adding the last bit. Harry promised solemnly to come if he felt worried before making his escape.

He expertly ignored the looks he was given when he entered the hall. He was used to being in the spotlight after all. He seated himself next to Remus who beamed at having him back in action.

"Oh, Harry are you feeling better now?" Lily asked scooting closer once he was seated at the Gryffindor table.

"Er, yes I'm fine. Just hungry." He said, blushing slightly. He so did not want to talk about his _episode_ here in the hall where everyone could hear.

"Did you hear about the Slytherins that got expelled? They were part of that evil mans group." Lily added watching him load his plate with toast. James moved close with furrowed brows.

"I don't think this is a good conversation to have at this point." He said eyeing Harry carefully. Lily eyed him confused before gasping and nodding. Harry eyed them suspiciously.

"Why not?" He asked, leaving his toast untouched. James sent Lily a small glare making her eye him apologetically. Remus eyed her a tad crossly as well.

"Well I just think we should talk about nice things. Like…like…" He looked at Sirius and shrugged, fishing for suggestions it seemed. Sirius smiled lazily.

"We've thought of the perfect prank. But we can't talk about it here. It's all very hush, hush." Sirius said, looking around with exaggerated movements. Harry rolled his eyes and took a bite of his toast, glad that someone was acting normally.

"We're thinking of using potions. We'll bribe the elf's into putting it into the drinks and that way everyone will be affected." Sirius whispered making Harry choke on his pumpkin juice.

"Great huh?" Sirius said excitedly clapping his hands together and grinning evilly. Harry thought he might order a hip flask to sip from. He'd seen James and Sirius brewing after all and it was not good.

"Honestly, you're so immature." Lily huffed, having listened in on the conversation. She moved away from them and joined Alice and some of the other girls instead. Sirius shrugged and rolled his eyes.

"No sense of fun, that one." He said shaking his head. He and James started whispering with the occasional mad giggle escaping every now and then. Harry was definitely going to try to get a hold of a hip flask he decided. He wondered where Bellatrix and Lestrange had been sent. They were after all still students, and he didn't know if they'd actually participated in any Deatheater activities yet. Oh well, he'd ask Remus about it later.

The rest of the day passed normally. Harry gave Snape his book back with a big thank you, even though he'd already read it during the summer at the Potter mansion. But it had been a nice gesture, he thought. He also responded to Slughorn's invitation, Remus was very interested and looked slightly put out that he hadn't been invited. Harry promised to ask after their next lesson to which Remus had looked panicked.

"He'll tell everyone what I am." Remus had said looking very worried. Harry had thought about it for a moment and agreed. Slughorn just might make a big deal out of it as Belby was going to be there. Everything Slughorn did was for his own success and having the man who invented a potion for helping werewolves and a werewolf in the same room might be too much for him.

"You're right, he might. I'll definitely tell you all about it though. I'm only going because he invited that guy, I really think it would help to have a chat with him you know." Harry had said making Remus nod. He looked happier at hearing that Harry wasn't all that pleased to go.

All in all Harry had had a good day, nobody had made a big fuss about him freaking out in the common room, other than Lily that is. And she stopped whenever James sent her a glare.

Harry wondered if they'd been warned about talking to him about his attack. He'd noticed McGonagall earlier in the common room before the all headed for bed. She'd just popped her head in but had definitely looked at him searchingly before leaving again looking happier.

Oh, well he thought, they'd get used to him getting into trouble one way or another eventually.

They all seemed to be very sensitive this time around. He couldn't remember the teachers making this much of a fuss whenever he, Ron and Hermione had gotten in trouble during their years in school.

He'd killed Quirrell and nobody had asked him about his feelings then, so why it was important to talk about them now was beyond him. He would never understand grownups, not even as a grownup eleven year old.

He yawned before pulling his duvet over his head and falling asleep.

_So what do you think? It was kind of hard writing it, not sure why. Hopefully it'll go better with the next chapter._

_Mina_


	10. Sluggy's done it again

_Thanks for the reviews:) I passed my driving theory test. (I was jumping with joy making the receptionist laugh.) Just college interview to go for next week, Midwifery is a highly competitive course so not looking forwards to the questions… Well on with the chapter. Mina _

**Sluggy's done it again.**

Hogwarts was slowly going back to normal for Harry. Most people seemed to have stopped staring after him as he went about his business in the halls and classrooms. The Slytherins being the exception, but that had nothing to do with him fainting.

He'd been right about McGonagall having had a chat with the Gryffindor's about him. She'd warned them to take special care when talking about the attacks, not only around him but in general too, how would you feel if your family had been involved after all?

There had been an article in the Daily Prophet about the two Slytherin seventh years that had been expelled from Hogwarts after questioning from the ministry had found out that they'd been planning on harming a fellow student. It didn't say what had happened to them though, which was frustrating.

Harry had approached Peter nervously after reading the article.

"I'm sorry for what I said Peter." He'd started, looking at the other boy apologetically. Peter had stared at him in surprise.

"It was really wrong of me, I overreacted and should have listened to your reasons before blowing up in your face." Harry had continued quickly before Peter had a chance to reply, feeling bad when Peter's eyes had started looking shiny.

"It's ok Harry." Peter had mumbled looking down on the floor. Harry who'd felt ashamed ever since Dumbledore had mentioned Peter telling McGonagall about Bellatrix shook his head.

"No Peter, it's not ok. I shouldn't have screamed at you and I'm really sorry." Harry said, for the first time feeling as if he was seeing Peter for what he really was, an eleven year old boy. Peter had nodded and given Harry a trembling smile before walking off looking far happier than before.

Harry had also gone for his first meeting with Madam Pomfrey after being confronted by a serious Iggy who'd made him swear not to tell anyone where and when he was from. Something about Phoenix sacrifice, time travel and being put on fire for an eternity. Needless to say Harry took the phoenix seriously.

The meeting with the medi-witch had ended up being both confusing and comforting.

He'd entered the hospital wing after his Potions lesson and been told to make himself comfortable. Pomfrey had asked a houself to bring some juice and sandwiches for them to have as lunch before starting.

"Now then Mr Potter, we will be talking about your feelings today. When something upsetting happens our minds will sometimes feel unequipped to deal with the reality and so it hides some of our feelings away." Madam Pomfrey had said eyeing him seriously. Harry had nodded as if he understood her, thinking that he kind of did.

"Those feelings don't disappear though, they're still there in your mind. And eventually they will reappear, like they did for you in the common room." She continued. Harry had shifted on his seat at the reminder, it still galled him that he'd fainted.

"Let's try something shall we? I say a word, and you tell me how it makes you feel. There is no right or wrong answer so just say what comes to your mind." Madam Pomfrey said, eyeing him until he nodded once more.

"Parents." She said making Harry blink in surprise. He'd been expecting something like Voldemort or Deatheaters, not parents. He thought for a moment, parents, what did it make him feel, if he was honest?

"Sad and safe, I guess." Harry answered making her nod. She smiled at him with a pleased look and Harry guessed he'd gotten that one right.

"Orphanage." Was her second word. Harry eyed her confused for a moment, right St Dursley's. Well there were a whole lot of feelings there.

"Angry, unfair." Harry said before biting his lip.

"Sad." He added. What had he ever done to the Dursley's to deserve how they'd treated him? He cleared his throat and looked down at the table. Madam Pomfrey observed his bowed head thoughtfully.

" Magic." She said finally, making him eye her again.

"Happy." Harry said immediately without hesitation. His mind whispered that magic wasn't all fun and games, it had made him sad too. Harry ignored it and eyed Madam Pomfrey who nodded and smiled again.

"Wizards." She said making him eye her thoughtfully. Two things appeared in Harry's mind at that word.

"Pleased and um, worried I guess." He answered, he knew a lot of pleasant wizards and a lot of not so nice ones after all. She eyed him thoughtfully again.

"Future." She said. Harry eyed her at a loss for words. Future. He was the future or had been in the future and he definitely didn't want that again.

"Mr Potter?" She asked softly, making him realise he'd been quiet for a long time.

"Um…I don't know?" He answered finally, feeling confused.

"Confused?" He asked, eyeing her slightly worried. She just nodded.

"That's alright Mr Potter. I think most of us are confused about what the future might bring." She said softly, smiling slightly when his shoulders relaxed.

"I think that's a good start on that exercise. Why don't you tell me about your new brother." She said changing the subject and making Harry grin.

"Where do I start?" He chuckled. She looked at him strangely for a second before smiling back at him. Harry wondered at the look and then shrugged it off.

"James is great." Harry said smiling brightly, sure the boy could be a bit annoying and knowing that he was his future dad was a bit weird at times. But Harry was starting to see him as James. Just James.

Madam Pomfrey kept him for another hour during which they spoke of many things, the Potters, school and friends. Harry felt quite surprised leaving the hospital wing that had gone much better than he'd thought it would.

He didn't see Madam Pomfrey's look as he exited the door or he probably would have felt slightly less pleased.

She had a very thoughtful look on her face, as if she'd been expecting something and received something altogether different. She walked over to her office and cancelled the scribe charm on her quill, she'd go through the words written later on, first she needed some time to think. She looked over at the table where they'd been seated and shock her head. He really was a lovely boy, she thought smiling softly to herself.

The door, through which Harry had left, opened making her turn.

"Ah, Poppy my dear. How did your conversation with young Mr Potter go?" Dumbledore asked walking over. Pomfrey rolled up the parchment in her hand and slid it into a drawer in her desk.

"He's a lovely boy, headmaster, and as you know I have a certain obligation to my patients privacy." She answered primly giving him a stern look. Dumbledore chuckled lightly before seating himself in the chair previously occupied by Harry.

"There is something I have noticed about Mr Potter." Dumbledore said suddenly, smoothing out his robes.

"For a boy raised in the muggle world he's very knowledgeable about the wizardry world." Dumbledore finished making the Medi witch nod.

"He had lessons with a tutor during the summer Albus. As did his brother." She said easing herself in the other chair. She nodded at the teapot that suddenly appeared and accepted the cup poured by Dumbledore.

"Ah, yes his father mentioned the fact." Dumbledore said taking a sip of tea.

"I had a small word with Mr Ben Chalmers as well, the Auror who meet Mr Potter first. Mr Potter made quite the impression on him I believe. The boy was not in the slightest surprised at Apparating or meeting a Healer, why it seems that although Mr Potter has no prior knowledge about the magical world he wasn't at all shocked or in awe at anything that had happened that day." Dumbledore said eyeing Pomfrey speculatively. She eyed him with furrowed brows.

"What are you suggesting Headmaster?" She asked confused.

"I have a theory merely a guess I should point out." Dumbledore said, shifting into a more comfortable position. Pomfrey leaned forwards in interest.

"I believe the failed Imperius might have caused a side effect in Mr Potter. I'm theorising that some of Lord Voldemort's thoughts or memories might have been transferred or shared with the boy." Dumbledore said thoughtfully making Pomfrey stare at him in surprise.

"I have never heard of such a thing happening before." She said, eyeing him in concern.

"Ah, but have you ever heard of a child as young as Mr Potter fighting the Imperious successfully?" Dumbledore asked making her shake her head.

"Albus…This might be far too complicated for me. If you are right, then the boy needs to see a mind healer, who knows what he has floating around in his mind." She said looking worried.

"It is but a theory, Poppy. I believe we are talking about a small amount of thoughts, snippets really. I do not think the boy has been affected too badly by the experience to be truthful. He is as you say, a lovely boy. Full of affection and care, not at all like the Dark Lord. I do not think we need to worry overly much, but if you would continue to see our young student I think we'll be able to spot any worrying signs if they appear." Dumbledore said, eyeing the not completely convinced looking Pomfrey.

"Of course we will continue to meet, the boy clearly needs to talk about his feelings more." She snapped, insulted at the thought of needing to be told how to care for her patients. Dumbledore nodded seriously and hid a small smile behind his teacup as he sipped delicately from it. Pomfrey huffed and rose from the table.

"If that's all headmaster? I do have other things to occupy my attention." She said, giving him a nod when he arose from the table.

"I will leave young Mr Potter in your capable hands then Poppy. Have a good afternoon." Dumbledore said before exiting the room at a leisurely pace. Poppy rolled her eyes before entering her office once more, muttering about new headmasters who were far too nosey for their own good.

Harry meanwhile had joined Remus outside for a bit of fresh air.

"How did it go?" Remus whispered after Harry had made himself comfortable on the grass. Harry pulled his cloak tighter around him before turning towards Remus, shivering slightly in the autumn breeze.

"It was ok." Harry said making Remus smile.

"I talk to her as well you know, she's really nice." Remus said, looking pleased at Harry's nod.

Harry spied James and Sirius further on down the grounds antagonising Snape. Harry guessed they were trying to rope him into helping them with a potion for _the prank of all pranks, _which Sirius wouldn't stop talking about. From the look on the Slytherins face Harry thought they were failing. He hid a smile as Snape came stalking over to where he and Remus were seated.

"They're so annoying." The boy muttered seating himself down next to Harry.

"It's a special talent they have, I think." Harry agreed, watching as the boys in question approached an older Gryffindor with practiced innocent looks.

"Did they ask you too?" Snape asked, snorting at Harry's nod.

"Hi guys." Lily said, walking past with Alice. Snape straightened and gave her a smile.

"Hi lily." He mumbled, blushing slightly at the look Harry gave him. Harry coughed to hide the laughter he felt might escape. It was fun watching Snape interact with Lily, and as long as they didn't make out or end up married, Harry didn't really mind them hanging out. The girls didn't stay but headed on up towards the school with a wave.

"So you were invited to the party with Slughorn." Snape stated more than asked.

"Malfoy, one of the Prefects says Slughorn's really looking forwards to having you come." Snape continued, pulling up grass with his long fingers with an unreadable look on his face. Harry startled at his words, of course Malfoy was a prefect how had he missed that…Great.

"Yes, professor Slughorn was impressed with my choice of potion." Harry mumbled thinking ahead about the party.

"I'm supposed to be in the library now actually I wanted to do some research before next week so I can hold a conversation with Mr Belby." Harry added thoughtfully.

"I'll help." Remus said immediately starting to collect his books that had been strewn around them. Snape picked one of the books up and handed it to Harry before joining some Slytherin first years walking out of the school. Remus and Harry headed of up towards the school for the library. Harry felt he might end up brainy if this continued which wasn't as horrifying a thought as it might have been in the past.

"So what exactly are we looking for?" Remus asked once they'd entered the library.

"I don't know, anything on werewolves I guess. I'd like to see if there's anything about muggles being turned." Harry said looking around the almost empty library. Remus eyed him surprised.

"Um, why?" He asked when Harry failed share his thoughts without prompting.

"Well the muggles may have thought of ways to combat the illness." Harry said. He had a vague memory of something aunt Marge had said about a disease once. She'd been complaining about having to take her precious little doggies to the vet for injections because some wimpy little weakling had gone scared at the thought of turning frothy round the mouth after having his leg nibbled on by one of her poor pooches. Rabies or something similar, he wasn't quite sure on the name. He remembered thinking it sounded terrible getting a frothy mouth and it had been one of the many reasons he'd disliked her dogs so much.

"Um, right." Remus said sounding unsure about the subject.

Madam Pince, who for some reason had taken a shine to Harry this time round, smiled as the boys secured a table for themselves.

"Right, if you look for books which feature muggles being bitten and I'll look for muggle medicine books." Harry said, making Remus sigh in defeat. He really didn't want to look for books detailing werewolves hunting people they were so biased.

At the end of two long hours Remus was the only one with something real to show for it. He had found them three books, whilst Harry had found a very slim book, more of a pamphlet really.

It would seem muggles did not survive being bitten for long at least according to Remus's finds. And the pitiful book Harry had found held almost no information at all, on anything. Maybe they'd come to a dead end, Harry thought dejectedly.

Or maybe he just needed muggle books on the subject. He left a curious Remus at the table and walked over to where Madam Pince was seated sorting returned books.

"Excuse me madam Pince." Harry said, making Pince turn from her sorting.

"Do you have any muggle books on medicine other than this one?" He asked holding out his find for her to look at.

"I'm looking for a disease called Rabies." Harry added politely.

"Let me have look dear." She said opening a thick tome on her desk. She dipped her quill in ink and wrote the word Rabies in the book.

"I'm sorry dear, it would seem Hogwarts doesn't have any books with that particular word." She said making Harry sigh in defeat.

"Now, now dear. What if I were to order some books from the British library? We are connected after all and I'm sure they if anyone would have some information for you." She said looking pleased when Harry's eyes lit up.

"Thank you, that would be great!" Harry exclaimed smiling brightly thinking that she'd never been this nice before.

"It'll take a couple of days I'm afraid, the books should be her on Wednesday or Thursday." She said, making Harry smile again.

"Thank you." Harry said before rejoining Remus.

"She's ordering in some books from the British library for us." Harry said brightly to a surprised looking Remus.

"That's good because there isn't much to go on here." Remus said pointing at the books on the table. They took the books out non the less, at least they had something to read up on before next weeks party.

The rest of the weekend was spent between reading the books, doing homework and laughing at Sirius hair which had been charmed to change colour, cutesy of an older Gryffindor tired of their incessant nagging. The punishment had backfired however as Sirius and James now wanted to learn the spell and kept following the poor boy around everywhere.

Harry had been given three muggle textbooks from the library on the Wednesday much to his delight. He'd found some interesting facts whilst reading but wondered at its relevance.

He and Remus had discussed the books on the same evening.

"It says here that the symptoms of Rabies include: drooling, convulsions, hallucinations, irritability, fever and itchiness among other things." Harry had stated quietly whilst reading from the book in the common room. Remus had looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly nodding.

"Some of that is right I guess. I don't think hallucinations are on my list though." He said.

"Mm, but if you're a muggle and suddenly turn into a wolf you'd probably call it hallucinations too, don't you think?" Harry had asked, giving a halfhearted grin. Remus had looked surprised before snorting.

"Oh, it says here that muggles usually die from it but that there is a cure, discovered in 1885 by a Frenchman called Louis Pasteur." Harry read excitedly making Remus move closer.

"Hm, I wonder if it's the magic that keeps wizards alive after the change and that's why muggles die. It'll be interesting to hear what Mr Belby has to say about it." Harry mused as he grabbed some parchment and started making notes.

Remus grabbed one of the open books and slowly started reading. Most of the writing went over his head, especially the muggle terminology but as long as Harry knew what he was reading Remus didn't mind.

The rest of the week seemed to drag on and before Harry knew it, it was time for his Friday meeting with Pomfrey again. Being the day before the big party it meant Harry was on tender hooks, excited to meet Belby and dreading the Slug Club.

He walked into the hospital wing after his potions lesson and sat down smiling when he once again got lunch served at their little table.

"How has your week been then Mr Potter?" Madam Pomfrey asked once he was seated.

"Really good, thank you. How has yours been?" Harry said making her smile slightly.

"Good thank you." She returned making him smile back.

"How did you feel our meeting went last Friday? Do you have anything you want to ask before we continue?" She asked making him shake his head.

"It was ok I guess." Harry answered, he'd not really thought much about it to be true. Madam Pomfrey nodded and didn't push any further.

"So shall we continue with our word exercise?" She asked instead. Harry shrugged and then nodded when she eyed him speculatively.

"Friends." She said making him smile.

"Loyalty, happiness." Harry said easily, thinking mainly of Remus but also of all other friends he'd made through his life. Madam Pomfrey smiled brightly at that.

"Hospital." She said, making him wince.

"Pain, and yucky potions." Harry said thinking of all the times he'd been lying on the beds in the room. Pomfrey nodded at his words.

"Wand." She said continuing. Harry wondered at that one. He pulled out his loyal wand and stared at it for a while.

"Er, protectiveness and um…wonder… and ownership." Harry said, turning his wand over in his hands. Having it snap in his other life had been painful he thought, it really made him appreciate it more now. Madam Pomfrey looked pleased with his thoughtful answer.

"Imperius." She said.

Harry was out of his chair before she'd finished the word, his wand steadily pointed at her. She didn't move from her chair or say anything just gazed at him calmly. Harry shivered he'd not been expecting her to say that word. He slowly lowered his wand and moved into his seat again.

"Defensive." He said eyeing her across the table, making her nod once and take a calming breath.

"I think that is a good place to stop. You did really well Harry." She said praising his hard efforts.

"I'm sorry about…" Harry started apologising, but she simply waved it off.

"Not to worry Harry, sometimes you'll feel uncomfortable with what we talk about and it might case a reaction in you which is fine." She said making him nod uncomfortably.

"So tell me, what naughtiness has your brother and his friend gotten into this week" She asked winking at him, changing the subject. He took a steadying breath before answering and soon felt much more comfortable as their conversation continued. He left the hospital feeling slightly better and soon had his thoughts occupied by the party the next evening.

That night he had his first nightmare since arriving.

_He was in the hospital wing seated by the table with the medi witch._

_"Jump onto the table!" Madam Pomfrey ordered making him confused. Why did she want him on the table when the bed was more comfortable? Harry wondered absentmindedly. _

_She suddenly turned into Moody who laughed whilst pointing his wand at him._

_"Master has such grand plans for you little Harry Potter." Moody cackled, his head thrown back, with glee. Moody slowly morphed into Ron, staring at him with accusing eyes._

_"How could you leave us? Imperio! You will come back now." Ron ordered, making Harry shake his head in despair._

_"I can't Ron! I need to be here with my mum and dad! The mirror told me so." Harry pleaded wanting Ron to understand. But Ron shook his head before turning into Voldemort. _

_"Bring me your parents boy!" Voldemort ordered. Harry shook in fear shaking his head._

_"Bring them here now." Voldemort said again waving his wand over Harry's head, making him slowly stand from where he'd been kneeling on the ground. Harry could see himself walking slowly towards two shadowy figures further on._

_"Hi Harry, look at Lily's hair." James said laughing holding out strands of shining red hair for Harry to see. But Harry didn't acknowledge James other than to grab his arm and start leading him towards Voldemort. James who seemed to think this was some sort of game followed Harry calmly. Lily whom had been standing next to James followed them complaining about needing her hair back. _

_"You have done well, my dear boy." Voldemort said, when Harry returned with his parents in tow. _

_"Watch as I dispose of them, and rejoice for you will cease to exist." Voldemort raised his wand and Harry stared in mute horror as the green light shot out of the wand and straight for his parents._

"NO!" He screamed shooting out of bed. He looked around the dormitory wildly and rushed over to James bed, sinking to the floor in relief when James head poked out between the curtains looking slightly peeved.

"Harry what's wrong?" James asked looking worried at the sight of his kneeling brother on the floor. Remus climbed out of his bed and approached Harry carefully.

"Was it a dream?" Remus asked making Harry nod sharply to which James slid out of bed.

"It's ok Harry." James said patting his back slowly and then gently rubbing his back with circular movements making Harry eyed him confused at his actions.

"Mum always rubs my back when I have a bad dream." James said shrugging, to which Harry gave a small tentative smile.

"Are you ok?" Harry asked, giving James a slow once over. He couldn't believe how real the dream had felt. James eyed him confused, before nodding at the nudge a tired Sirius gave him.

"Can we go back to sleep now?" Sirius asked yawning, eyeing James and Remus confused when they turned and glared at him. Harry nodded absentmindedly making Sirius head back for bed. Peter it seemed had not even stirred at the commotion. Harry slowly rose from the floor and made it back to his bed. James seated himself next to Harry and continued rubbing his back slowly.

"I'm fine. Really." Harry said at the looks the two boys were giving him. Remus nodded and slowly headed back towards bed after looking at James inquiringly.

"Do you want me to sleep with you?" James whispered eyeing Harry worriedly. Harry gave a choked laugh or was it a sob? He wasn't quite sure which it was before shaking his head.

"I'll be fine." He whispered back, trying to smile convincingly. James rolled his eyes before pushing Harry into the mattress.

"We're brothers now you know, besides we never had a sleep over at home anyway." He said before pulling Harry's curtain shut. He lay down next to Harry and then started giggling tiredly. Harry eyed him confused until he followed James eyes and spied Iggy looking down sleepily from the top of the bed, feathers sprouting this way and that as if he'd been pulled from behind the bed. Harry snorted, making James giggle all over again.

"Night Harry." James yawned before rolling over and making himself more comfortable on Harry's pillow. Harry yawned and rolled onto his side so that he could keep James in his line of vision, he didn't notice himself slipping into a deep dreamless sleep.

The next morning Harry woke abruptly as a cold foot connected with his back. James was sprawled in a strange position across the bed. Harry shivered at the icy toes and slowly pushed James foot away so that he could slip out of bed. James didn't stir in the slightest and Harry snorted quietly.

All the other boys had their hangings drawn making it obvious they were all still sleeping. Harry tiptoed towards the bathroom were he got himself sorted for the day. He didn't bother with putting anything too stylish on, as he'd change later for the party anyway.

He slowly made it out of the dorm and headed downstairs for the common room to read until the others woke up. He was surprised to find McGonagall seated in one of the chairs sipping on a cup of steaming tea.

"Good morning Mr Potter." She said when Harry walked over.

"Morning professor." Harry said awkwardly. She looked at him searchingly before giving him a smile.

"I was a Gryffindor once you know." She said surprising him, he wondered why she was telling him this.

"This was always my favourite time of the day to be in the common room, so quiet and calm. Perfect for planning future pranks and finishing homework." She continued, winking at the word prank. Harry laughed wondering what was going on.

"I'm definitely not planning any pranks, I leave that for James and Sirius." Harry said seriously, making his head of house snort before she quickly looked round to make sure she'd not been overheard. Harry smiled delighted at seeing this new side of McGonagall.

"Madam Pomfrey asked me to make sure you were alright after your meeting with her yesterday. I have certain charms on the first year dorms that alert me when someone is unwell or overly upset." McGonagall said looking at him carefully. Harry shifted uncomfortable.

"I noticed that your brother knew what to do, so I left you to it. I do hope however that you feel you can come to me if you feel worried about anything, Harry." She added leaning forwards. Harry swallowed hard trying to make the lump that had appeared, disappear before nodding. She smiled at him gently before rising at the sound of feet padding down the stairs.

"I'll see you later Mr Potter." She said, smiling kindly at him before leaving the dorm quietly. Harry turned to see an older student walking round the corner from where the stairs were, the girl looked surprised at the sight of him and mumbled a good morning before leaving through the common room door.

Harry walked over to a chair and got seated, he pulled a book from his cloak pocket and started relaxing as he turned page after page as the morning continued. More students slowly started trickling down the stairs and when his dorm mates finally appeared Harry had worked up an appetite.

Remus and James both looked relieved to find him and happily followed as he led them down to breakfast. Sirius followed at a more sedate speed, obviously having suffered from being woken up in the night, not that he'd stayed up for long. Peter caught up with them before they entered the hall and they all got seated together.

The Saturday passed quickly after that and before Harry knew it, it was time to change into his dress robes and get ready to head to the Slug Club.

Stuffing the small portable potions scale, his mother had bought and wrapped, into his pocket Harry gave the others a small wave before heading off. It was a relief to leave as James and Sirius seemed to find Harry funny looking in his dress robes and messy hair. Remus had looked inclined to agree with them but he'd also looked envious when Harry set off.

He arrived at the open office door at a quarter to six and stopped before entering. He took a deep breath, berating himself for his cowardice, and entered the Slytherin lair.

Slughorn had succeeded in making the room scary looking he thought looking around.

Torches stuck to the wall dimly lighted the room. Spiders were sliding down cobwebs from the ceiling and there was an eerie sounding music playing softly in the background.

Harry noticed that he wasn't the only person having arrived early, there were in fact quite a number of people already there.

He tried to spot Slughorn so that he could hand over his gift, but a hand grabbing his shoulder startled him from his searching.

"Ah, did I frighten you there my boy? Excellent!" Slughorn boomed happily, making Harry want to roll his eyes. Several of the adult guests having turned at the loud exclamation hid smiles but soon turned away leaving Harry to greet the professor without an audience.

"Thank you for inviting me, professor. The room looks great, very scary." Harry said looking around, he twitched slightly when one of the spiders dropped from the ceiling onto his shoulder. Slughorn caught it and popped it into his mouth much to Harry's horror.

"Mm…Liquorish creepy crawlies from Zonko's." Slughorn said, smiling delighted at the face Harry had made. Harry smiled sheepishly and dug the present out of his pocket.

"A small gift to show my gratitude for the invitation." Harry said wondering if he sounded pompous as he handed the parcel over. Slughorn accepted it happily, glowing with excitement as he unwrapped it carefully, looking almost as if he was practicing for Christmas.

"Oh how lovely, you didn't have to of course! How did you find out about my collection then, you sneaky boy?" Slughorn asked looking genuinely pleased with the gift. Harry shrugged and wondered if his parents had meet Slughorn before or heard of him at least. He was definitely sending them a thank you letter for finding the right gift.

"I'm afraid Damocles hasn't arrived yet, but please do find yourself some refreshments over by the table and I'll introduce you when he arrives." Slughorn said pushing him towards a corner, already turning to greet the next guest coming through the door.

Harry shuffled over to the table and got a glass of a blood red liquid, turning out to be blood orange juice, feeling quite relieved at the short time he'd been held up in the mans clutches. He guessed he wasn't as important now that he was just Harry.

"Hi Harry. Good of you to come early, the professor likes that." Harry turned at Snape's voice and couldn't help but feel relieved at a familiar face. He stiffened slightly at the older boy who'd walked over with Snape.

"Harry this is Lucius Malfoy, the Slytherin Prefect. Lucius this is Harry, my Gryffindor friend." Snape introduced. Harry thought he looked slightly defiant as he added the word friend and couldn't help his lip from twitching but luckily he managed to stop the smile that wanted to burst out. Never in his wildest imagination had he ever thought Snape would introduce him as a friend he'd obviously done something right, he thought.

"Nice to meet you." Harry said, holding out his hand for Malfoy to shake, deciding to play nice. Malfoy gave him a searching stare and gave him a short shake.

"I've heard a lot about you, Potter." The blond said sounding aloof. Harry who'd dealt with the man before didn't take any notice of the tone besides he'd gotten used to sparring with Malfoy Jr and Lucius wasn't all that different Harry thought.

"Only good things I hope." Harry joked, thinking this was ridiculous. Malfoy gave him a piercing stare before relaxing his shoulders and nodding his head in acknowledgement.

"Of course." He said silkily. Harry couldn't help but snort and rolled his eyes. Snape gave a small laugh as well looking pleased with how the introduction was going.

"Lucius is really good at Potions, he's been tutoring me ahead of classes." Snape said making Malfoy puff his chest out at the praise.

"That's kind, and as you're really good I guess you guys can work on more advanced potions." Harry commented making Snape look pleased before nodding excitedly.

"We look after each other in Slytherin." Was all Malfoy had to say on the subject. Snape seemed to be biting his tongue to stop himself from chatting too much. Harry gave a lopsided grin, which he hid behind his glass as he took a sip.

"So who here do you guys already know?" Harry asked trying to distract himself from eyeing the door too often. Malfoy beamed at the question and puffed himself up importantly.

"Well, over there is Mr Whitehorn, he's the owner of Nimbus Racing Brooms, I met him last year." Malfoy said pointing out a youngish looking man talking excitedly with a tall woman, across the room from them.

Harry found Malfoy to be a very knowledgeable celebrity spotter and soon had a hang on who was who thanks to the blond.

"Oh and that's Belby, he graduated three years ago when I was in my second year, he was a Ravenclaw and is one of the professors favourite potions students." Malfoy said suddenly nodding towards the door where Slughorn was fawning over a tall, young wizard.

"Harry my boy!" Slughorn called loudly making everyone turn and stare for moment at a blushing Harry. Snape snickered slightly as he watched Harry walk over to the men.

"Ah, here we are then. Damocles my boy meet Mr Harry Potter, a very promising brewer, a first year Gryffindor he is. He's taken on the challenge to brew your potion in the future." Slughorn said patting Harry on the back cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you Mr Belby." Harry said, feeling strange calling the youth Mr. Belby smiled looking pleased at the greeting however, making Harry happy he'd bothered.

"You as well Mr Potter. I was very surprised when Horace told me about you well my potion is well beyond first year curriculum and it's quite new, not very well known yet." Belby said, shrugging his shoulders vaguely.

"Oh ho, don't cut yourself short my boy! There will be an Order of Merlin no doubt bearing your name in the near future. Your name is causing waves after all." Slughorn said, tapping his nose and winking at Belby in a conspiring way. Harry who knew that Slughorn was telling the truth nodded in agreement making Belby eye him fondly. Slughorn pointed them in the direction of a small table and Belby led the way over and seated himself.

Harry noticed that Slughorn had disappeared into the crowd and focused on Belby instead.

"So when did you start the trials? And what results have you been receiving?" Harry asked making Belby's eyes light up.

"Well, we've had some very good results actually. The potion trials have involved sixteen werewolves and all of them had more than satisfactory reactions during the three moon cycles we tried it. We just need to look at the strength a bit more but it's all going really well." Belby said sounding very proud of himself, he seemed to warm to Harry as he nodded looking interested.

"And will you be doing trials on children afflicted?" Harry asked leaning forwards in his seat.

"Er, well we haven't quite gotten that far yet. But I'm sure we will." Belby said eyeing Harry's face intently.

"So, who do you know that was bitten?" He added casually. Harry leaned backwards in his seat and shrugged.

"A friend of mine, when I heard about your potion I got really excited, I decided to challenge myself to brew it for him." Harry said making Belby nod thoughtfully.

"I saw a werewolf once, the look in its eyes was terrifying, nothing human at all, the next time we meet he was normal just like you and me. It made me wonder about the possibility of creating the potion." Belby said lost in his thoughts. Harry pulled the parchment he'd written his information on Rabies on, out of his pocket and smoothed it out on the table under Belby's curious gaze.

"I wanted to ask some questions if you don't mind?" Harry asked, feeling hopeful at the approving look the man was giving him at the sight of his miniscule writing.

"Of course, learning is mans greatest mission after all." Belby said, sounding very Ravenclawish Harry thought.

"Right, well there's this muggle disease called Rabies, I don't know if you've heard of it?" Harry asked making Belby frown.

"Well I don't really put myself into muggle affairs all that much to be honest." Belby sniffed, looking slightly disappointed at the topic. Harry swallowed hard, he was loosing his interest.

"Well I think that's what they call lycanthrope in muggles." Harry said quickly making Belby eye him surprised.

"I don't think muggles actually survive being bitten." Belby said thoughtfully. Harry nodded quickly before continuing.

"Well according to a muggle medicine book I've read they've discovered a cure if it's administered within an approximate period of two weeks. I don't know if muggles simply react differently because of their lack of magic or if the cure could somehow be used in combination with your potion…" Harry said trailing off at the stupefied look on Belby's face.

"…Er, well I wrote down some information and the name of the book I borrowed if you were interested in looking into it further." Harry finished eyeing Belby nervously.

"You're telling me the muggles might have found a cure already?" Belby asked. Harry nodded.

"But I'm not a hundred percent sure it's actually to do with werewolves. It's just that some of the symptoms sound suspiciously similar." Harry pointed out pushing his notes closer to the man. Belby grabbed the parchment and slowly started skimming through Harry's notes, looking more and more excited as he read.

"This is astonishing, if this is true it could lead to a real breakthrough in finding a cure!" Belby exclaimed loudly eyeing Harry astounded. Harry blushed at the looks they were receiving from the other guests.

"What's this then?" Slughorn asked walking over quickly to find out what it was that had his star brewer so excited.

"The boy's a genius! It might lead to finding a cure!" Belby exclaimed, wildly waving Harry's notes around before suddenly putting them on the table carefully.

"You'll let me look into this won't you? We'll share the findings under both our names if it all works?" Belby asked breathlessly eyeing the puzzled Harry pleadingly. Harry shrugged, as long as it might be helpful to Remus and other werewolves, Belby could take the whole credit as far as he was concerned.

"You won't regret this Mr Potter, I swear." Belby gushed. Slughorn who'd been eyeing them speculatively seemed to come to the realisation that something momentous and possibly rewarding for him had occurred.

"Well it was very fortunate that I managed to throw the two of you together then, wasn't it?" He asked making Belby rise from the chair.

"Oh yes Horace! Thank you ever so much, why if what young Mr Potter here has showed me tonight is true then I think you've just shaped a large part of the future for the better." Belby said, making Slughorn puff up importantly.

"Remarkable find." Belby murmured, rolling the parchment up carefully.

"I will most definitely be in contact with you again Mr Potter. Most definitely." Belby said taking hold of Harry's hand sounding slightly like Percy when dealing with Mr Crouch, to Harry's horror.

Belby then excused himself profusely to Slughorn for leaving the party early but he simply wouldn't be good company until he'd had a chance to review Harry's notes in detail, he would of course meet the professor as soon as possible for drinks when the moment arrived.

"Mr Potter." Belby said again, giving Harry an awed look before rushing out of the room, leaving Harry in the centre of attention all on his own.

"Well it would seem that was a match made in heaven." Slughorn said delightedly patting Harry's head fondly. The other guests all looked puzzled at the small boy getting such a big reaction from what was proving to be a very promising Potions Master and Slughorn himself.

"I knew there was something about you, my dear boy." He added making sure they all knew that he, Horace Slughorn, had done it again. Found another prodigy on the way to fame.

Harry, who felt like hiding under the table now that Belby had left, wondered if Slughorn would be mortally offended if he tried to escape.

Snape came over and took pity on Harry by asking if he'd figured out what potion it was that James and Sirius wanted to poison everyone with, making Harry smile in gratitude.

The rest of the evening wasn't all that bad after all, even Malfoy joining him and Snape didn't feel all too bad, Malfoy Sr knew how to behave it seemed.

Slughorn did make him stay a long time though and he didn't make it up to the dormitory until close to eleven, at which point he didn't care where he slept as long as he was far away from Slughorn's office.

Well at least he'd put the ball in motion when it came to learning more about the Wolfsbane potion, Harry thought before sleep took over and everything thankfully went blank.

_Wow, that was longer than planned. Thought about making it into two chapters but couldn't decide where to make the break, so here you are. Hope you like, Mina_


	11. The small snake

**A small snake**

_Ok so it has been ages since I last updated! I had major writing cramp and a case of lost passwords:) I'm hoping I'll be able to start slowly again. Mina, Ps Had to resubmit the chapter due to so many small misstakes. sorry I really need a beta:(_

It was three days since the big party and Harry was feeling slightly out of sorts. He had passed on all his findings to Belby and now he had nothing to keep himself busy with. He guessed it was just a matter of waiting for Belby to do his bit now.

Remus had been listening avidly to Harrys report on the night. He'd been especially happy to hear that the potion was being tried on real people already. He'd seemed surprised to hear that Belby had had a meeting with a werewolf and didn't seem to have come away hating them.

Harry's first potions lesson after the party had come far too soon for his taste. Walking into the classroom had proved bad enough.

"Ah, Harry! My clever little Gryffindor!" Slughorn called, looking up from the papers on his desk as Harry entered the classroom. "Damocles sends his regards, he is ever so grateful for having met you at the party. He's one of my finest finds you know." Slughorn continued as the class got seated by their desks.

Harry nodded feeling embarrassed by the attention. He bent down and started pulling out his supplies from his bag. He was just putting his book on the table when Slughorn arrived by his desk. "Yes I do seem to have a knack for finding new talents." Slughorn continued not at all paying attention to all the stares Harry was being subjected to. Harry was horrified to feel Slughorn's hand give him an affectionate pat on the head. "Such a clever boy." He mumbled before making his way back to the front of the classroom.

Sirius and James snickered rather loudly from the back of the classroom making Harry send them a heated glare.

"Settle down class, settle down!" Slughorn boomed glancing towards James and Sirius especially. "Pair up please. We will be brewing something fun today, a colour reversal potion!" Slughorn said looking very pleased with himself. "The reversal potion when applied onto any material will change the original colour, like so." He demonstrated the potion by dipping a white tulip into a small cauldron on his desk. When he lifted the flower it had turned a deep purple. "Very handy for personalizing gifts. And with Christmas coming up I'm sure you'll find it useful." Slughorn said cheerfully.

"Can't we just use magic?" Lily asked hesitantly. Slughorn nodded looking round the class.

"Why would this potion be especially good for you youngsters to learn?" He asked the rest of the class.

"Because of the underage restrictions." Snape answered making Slughorn beam.

"Very good Mr Snape take five points to Slytherin." He said making Snape bite his lip to keep from smiling with pride. Snape risked a glance at Harry and then quickly looked away when Harry met his eye.

"Can you make any colour or will it always be purple?" A voice piped up from the back. Harry and indeed the whole class were shocked to see it was Sirius who'd asked the question.

"Ah Mr Black how nice to hear your voice." Slughorn said dryly. "The colour depends on how much moonstone dust you add. Add a little and the colour will be lighter, add more and you get a more colourful hue. Hope that satisfies your curiosity Mr Black. Please feel free to ask more questions as the term progresses." Slughorn said, looking slightly apprehensive when Sirius actually took notes. "Right begin brewing!" Slughorn ordered watching with fatherly pride as the class got themselves busy.

Harry had noticed that the Slytherins had been giving him strange looks again in between classes and meals. He wasn't sure if that was due to having been at Slughorn's party or just because he was Harry. The Slytherins didn't seem to have changed in that regard.

Severus was also avoiding him it seemed. He wondered if the boys had done something stupid. He'd asked as much when he spotted them in the common room after a failed attempt at finding the Slytherin boy.

"Did you guys do something to annoy Sev?" Harry asked making Sirius eye James with a puzzled look.

"Why would we do anything to Snape? He's your friend right? And he's not bad for a Slytherin to be honest." Sirius said. "Besides James reckons your mum would skin us if we mess with you!" Sirius added making James nod.

"Oh ok, thanks." Harry said making the boys shrug. He wondered what could have Snape avoiding him then. He left the boys to their books and made it outside the common room before realising that the table had been stacked with schoolbooks and handwritten quickly opened the portrait to have a second look.

The boys were seated at the same table but with a Quidditch magazine each and an empty table in between them. They looked up with innocent looks.

"Where did all the books go?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Books? What books? You know we don't believe in books. It's all about being practical when it comes to us!" James said innocently but with a devilish look in his eyes.

"You know what, I don't want to know! What I don't know won't hurt me!" Harry said before walking away shaking his head in defeat. James and Sirius highfive'd behind his back, congratulating themselves on getting Harrys obvious approval.

Harry would just have to find Snape later and sort out whatever the problem was.

"Maybe he's just busy or something." Remus suggested later at lunch whilst Harry tried unsuccessfully to spot the Slytherin.

"Sev isn't busy, he finished all his homework yesterday." Lily injected from a few seats away making Harry frown.

"So he _is_ avoiding me." Harry muttered. Now how do you corner a Slytherin that doesn't want to talk with you? You sneak into the snake pit of course, Harry thought to himself a smirk blossoming on his face.

"Er, Harry? You look like James does whenever we're planning an awesome prank." Sirius said in a peeved voice. "You're _not,_ right? Because that would be really weird." Sirius continued looking between Harry and James.

"Mum would blame me if you start misbehaving." James injected worriedly.

"Nope, not planning a prank at all." Harry said smiling brightly. Sirius didn't look relieved and James looked downright worried. Harry on the other hand felt much happier now that he had something to do. Remus eyed him curiously as they walked towards transfiguration.

"What are you going to do?" Remus asked curiously, as Harry was bound to do whatever Harry wanted to do.

"Well if Sev wont come to me I'll have to go to him." Harry answered nodding to himself. Now he just needed a plan of action, It was a while since he had last entered the Slytherin common room. Malfoy had been the one to let him in, but then he'd looked like a Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure he was up for the whole Polyjuice thing again, that potion was vile tasting.

Harry had had another meeting with Madam Pomfrey on the Friday, something that was starting to feel like quite a normal friday thing.

"I heard you attended one of Professor Slughorn's famous parties." Madam Pomfrey commented, as they'd gotten comfortable.

"Yes, I got to meet the maker of the Wolfsbane potion. I'm hoping to learn how to brew it before I leave Hogwarts." Harry said feeling quite awed at having had the chance really once he'd thought about it. Hermione would have done alot of things to have that opportunity.

"I've said it before Harry, Remus is very lucky to have you as a friend." Madam Pomfrey said softly.

"I think I'm the lucky one." Harry said, thinking of all the things the future Remus had in fact done for him.

"Well you are both lovely boys and I am very pleased that you met and made friends." Pomfrey said smiling softly.

Harry I would like us to have a chat about what happened this summer." Pomfrey said to Harry who stiffened slightly. No he did not want to talk about that, Harry thought. "I'm sure it was a very frightening experience, but I believe it would benefit you to discuss the day." She continued.

"I don't really…" Harry stopped talking when the door to the infirmary opened.

"Ah Mr Potter. Just the boy I was looking for!" Dumbledore said smiling brightly from the doorway. "I hope you don't mind my interrupting your weekly chat?" Dumbledore said entering the room fully. Pomfrey's narrowed eyes and stiff posture told everyone how she felt about Dumbledore's interruption. Harry too felt slightly apprehensive. "I must admit Mr Potter that I have heard of the dreadful business from this summer and have come to ask a big favour from you." Dumbledore said ignoring Pomfrey's look of anger. He made a very comfortable armchair appear opposite from Harry and sat down with a contented sigh. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping an old man to fill in the blanks from that day. You see, the man you met that day is proving to be a not so nice man. I'm sure that you have heard that there have been more attacks on people. I believe that your memory of that day could be of importance." Dumbledore said eyeing a quiet Harry. "Would it be terrible of me to ask you to share that day with me?" He asked making Harry squirm. How could he say no to that, Harry wondered. "You could perhaps show me, using a pensive? I would of course return the memory back to you. You would not have to view the memory yourself unless you wanted to." He added at Harrys apprehensive face. Pomfrey huffed noisily. Harry didn't think he'd said or done anything suspiciously that day but he non the less fidgeted slightly in his seat.

"You don't have to agree to show the Headmaster anything Harry!" Pomfrey snapped, glaring at Dumbledore.

"It would be tremendously helpful though." Dumbledore injected quickly looking hopeful.

"I do not agree with your tactics Headmaster. Not at all!" Pomfrey snapped again, making Dumbledore eye her innocently.

Iggy suddenly appeared in a flash and landed on the headboard of a bed near Harry. Harry was relieved at the sight of his familiar. Iggy gave Harry a small nod as if to say all was all right.

"How lovely! How are you my friend?" Dumbledore greeted Iggy who gave a small chirp. Pomfrey sniffed and continued glaring at the Headmaster, which made Harry smile. It was nice to have the healer on his side.

"It's ok Madam Pomfrey. I don't mind sharing my memories from that day. It was a really confusing day though." Harry said making both adults give him their full attention.

Iggy left the headboard and flew over to sit on Harrys shoulder. He chattered quietly into Harrys ear making, Harry squirm at the tickly feeling.

Dumbledore waved his wand and made the Pensive appear on the table. He was wasting no time it would seem. "Now then. What I want you to do is think back to that day. Really think hard about that day. Whilst you do that I'll slowly extract the memory from your mind." Dumbledore explained eyeing the nodding Harry with an approving smile. "It wont hurt at all." He said soothingly when Harry stiffened at having the Headmasters wand pointed at his temple.

Harry was rather curious to know what it felt like to have his memory extracted. He thought back to the day he'd appeared into what had looked and felt like a huge dust cloud. He remembered the loud noises and the screams surrounding him. He remembered the buildings collapsing and the Deatheaters. And of course Voldemort. He recalled the feeling of the Imperius curse washing away all his worries and the crash of reality shortly after.

And then there was nothing. He met the blue eyes of the Headmaster with his green.

"Thank you Mr Potter for your trust in this old man. May I now view the memory?" Dumbledore asked softly. Harry gave a small nod and stroked Iggy who cooed softly into his ear.

"I don't really want to see it if that's ok." Harry mumbled making Dumbledore nod.

"Of course my boy. Perhaps you and Madam Pomfrey could partake in a small treat?" Dumbledore suggested before making another table appear laden with cakes and biscuits.

"Hmph…" Pomfrey huffed as they watched Dumbledore immersed himself into the pensive. "I do apologise, Harry, for the headmasters actions." She said still glaring at the man in question. She took a deep breath and then eyed Harry kindly. "Shall we enjoy ourselves with this feast then?" She asked motioning to the table. Harry decided not to worry right this moment about what Dumbledore would think about his memory. Iggy had approved to his sharing of the memory so it must be all right.

Harry handed the phoenix a biscuit and was rewarded with a happy chirp before Iggy disappeared, biscuit in talon, with a flash.

Harry and Pomfrey enjoyed their little snack, talking about this and that whilst Dumbledore was otherwise occupied.

It was quite some time before Dumbledore finally rose from his position by the pensive with a thoughtful look on his face. "Thank you my boy. I see you were sorted into the right house here at Hogwarts. You have plenty of courage." Dumbledore praised making Harry blush.

"I was scared." Harry admitted.

"We would all have been my boy. But you did not let the fear paralyse you. You stood up to someone twice your size, many times your age and far more experienced. Not many adult wizards could have done that with your courage." Dumbledore said making Harrys blush deepen.

Dumbledore patted Harrys knee before motioning for Harry to lean closer. The white, wispy memory rose from the stone bowl at Dumbledore's command and slowly returned to Harrys mind.

"Thank you again my boy, you humble me." Dumbledore said. "My door will always be open to you should you need me." He added before helping himself to a jam tart. "Mm, I do love a treat." He said making Harry grin. "Well I shall leave the two of you to your feast in peace." Dumbledore said, ignoring Pomfrey's snort, before leaving the room humming happily.

Harry was relieved when Pomfrey let him go shortly after the Headmaster. He wondered what Dumbledore had made of his and Voldemort's meeting.

Harry had chosen the weekend as his time to corner Snape. He had initially planned to maybe disillusion himself and then sneak into the Slytherin common room after a Slytherin. But then he'd decided to not make things more complicated than they had to be.

He left Remus, with Lily, doing homework up in Gryffindor tower before leisurely making his way down to the Slytherin common room. He'd decided to simply try his luck and knock on the door. The unfortunate Slytherin who opened the door didn't seem to believe his eyes. He did a double take at seeing a small Gryffindor waiting outside.

"Who showed you the way!" He demanded, once he'd gotten over the shock, in a surly tone, sending a heated glare back into the room.

"No one did, I just get around. Is Severus in?" Harry asked making the boy stare. A pale hand tapped the Slytherins shoulder and he moved aside.

"To what do we do the honour Mr Potter?" Malfoy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, hi Mr Malfoy. I just wanted a word with Severus. Is he in?" Harry asked politely.

"Who's at the door? Let them in! No sense leaving the door open." A voice called from inside. Malfoy moved aside and motioned for Harry to enter. The door shut with an ominous snick leaving the corridor empty.

"Harry my boy! How lovely of you to come an visit." Slughorn boomed as Harry stepped into the common room. "Why, you are just the boy I wanted to see! Damocles spoke to me earlier this morning, he is so very excited about your collaboration." Slughorn said as he motioned for Harry to take a seat on one of the high backed chairs. The gathered Slytherins all stared in amazement at the Gryffindor in their midst. "Ah how I wish you had been sorted into my house. You fit in so well with my boys." Slughorn said with dreamy eyes. "You remind me of myself, if I may say so. So full of potential and that thirst you have for knowledge." Slughorn continued making Harry want to squirm. "My boys are just finishing their homework, we try to have Sunday as our free day." Slughorn said nodding at the Slytherins gathered around them in the green tinted room. The tables around the room were all full of books and Harry spotted that some of the older boys had their wands out as if they had been duelling.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to disrupt you guys" Harry felt obliged to say. Slughorn clapped his back jovially.

"Not at all my boy! You're welcome here whenever you want!" Slughorn said, making more than one Slytherin gasp. "Why don't you find a group and make yourself useful." Slughorn encouraged. Harry shrugged and made his way over to the corner where Snape stood hidden in the shadows.

"Hi Sev!" Harry greeted cheerfully. This was so much fun he thought eyeing them all, they looked shell shocked the whole bunch of them.

"Hi Harry." Snape greeted, looking around at the other Slytherins nervously.

"This is such a cool common room! The tower is so different. I like how the skylights show the lake." Harry gushed, hoping to placate the though crowd.

"How did you find our common room?" Snape demanded in a hushed tone. Harry could see more than one Slytherin trying to catch his answer.

"Oh I get around." Harry said vaguely, making Snape scowl. "So what have you been up to?" He asked making Snape shrug.

"I've been busy." Snape said loftily.

"Oh ok, so you weren't avoiding me then?" Harry asked making Snape glare at him.

"I can't hang out with Gryffindor's all the time you know!" Snape snapped.

"Now, now! What's this? Why would you not be able to socialise with Mr Potter? Why I consider him an honorary Slytherin!" Slughorn exclaimed making Harry smile brightly.

"Why thank you sir! I'm really honoured by your kindness." Harry said smirking happily, this was very good he thought. Slughorn beamed at the positiv reaction.

"It's sorted then!" The professor said eyeing the gaping Slytherins with a fond look. "I don't want to hear any nonsence about not socialising with my little Harry! Why he's already making a name for himself and every Slytherin worth his magic knows the importance of connections." Slughorn said making some of the older Slytherins nod reluctantly. Harry recieved a nod from Malfoy which made a small shiver of something snake its way up his back. Malfoy's and Harry Potter was not a good mix, this could go very bad Harry thought.

"So can I help with anything?" Harry asked Snape motioning at the homework on the table. He shrugged of the negative thoughts, it would go as it went and he'd just deal with it later.

"Do you know anything about Magical Creatures? I have a question about pixies." A third year asked, eyeing Harry with a sneaky look in his eyes. Harry shivered at the memory but smiled brightly.

"Sure what do you want to know?" Harry asked making the girl frown. She eyed Slughorn who gave her an encouraging smile. She seemed to take heart at being in the teachers good graces and turned back to Harry.

What followed was one of the most surreal couple of hours Harry had ever had. He'd actually had a good time once the Slytherins relaxed enough to realise that Harry indeed did know quite a bit. Slytherins appreciated knowledge it would seem. He'd helped with a transfiguration homework, taught out the summoning charm and even helped a fourth year with her potions essay when Slughorn had been distracted by another student.

All in all it was a happy Harry that resurfaced at dinnertime. Remus who'd known that he was going to meet Snape somewhere waved him over.

"Where were you?" Sirius demanded, when he sat down, beating Remus who'd just opened his mouth to talk.

"Oh I was just in the Slytherin common room." Harry said absentmindedly as he loaded his plate with food.

"What!" Sirius and James shouted as one. "What were you doing there?" Sirius demanded looking horrified. "How did you find it?" James asked surprised. Sirius eyed James before nodding. "Yes what he said, how did you find it?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Oh I get around." Harry answered making them scowl.

"We've been all over the castle and we haven't found any of the other house common rooms." Sirius whined. Harry chuckled evily.

"You know! You know where the others are too!" James exclaimed pointing at Harry. Both boys stared at him in awe. "How do you do it?" Sirius asked reverently. "When do you have time? You read books like all the time." He added eyeing Harry who just smiled making the other boy scowl again. "It's not fair!" Sirius sulked.

Remus snorted from next to Harry. "He's got a phoenix that can flash him anywhere." Remus said eyeing Harry curious to see if his guess was right. Sirius slapped his own forehead.

"Oh yes! How could I have forgotten?" He groaned to himself. Harry just shook his head at them all. He was not going to say he'd spent years getting to know the castle with and without a magical map. And he was definitely not admitting to not once thinking about asking Iggy to take him anywhere.

The boys disappeared after lunch and Harry joined Remus outside for some Quidditch. Well he borrowed an upper year Gryffindor's broom and Remus read by the bleachers. Good end to a good day.

_So any thoughts? I am looking for a Beta, if anyone knows of a good one please let me know:) Thanks for reading. Mina._


	12. Pride

_Thankyou for all your encouraging reviews:) I'm so excited to be writing again even if it still is slow going...Hope this chapter pleases and that i'll be with you again soon:) Mina_

**Pride**

November arrived with a definite cold snap and the Hogwarts inhabitants woke up to a surprise layer of fresh snow one morning.

James and Sirius had taken it up to themselves to get as many students covered in the snow as possible. They had found the perfect spell to use when James had levitated a snowball which he then let fall on to Sirius. Sirius had then posed the question of how much snow they could lift and any student foolish enough to walk past the madly giggling boys had soon found out just how much that was.

Harry had been on his way to the Great Hall when a furious looking Lily had appeared from outside.

"Well at least they'll improve on their spell casting. I'm sure Professor Flitwick will be pleased." Harry commented. Lily had glared daggers at him, her green bobble hat was caked with snow and she was shivering from the melting snow that slowly trickled down her neck.

"Harry just…just be quiet." She hissed at him before stalking in the direction of the Gryffindor tower.

A moment later a flushed looking James appeared through the door and froze guiltily at the sight of Harry.

"I didn't know it was _her_!" James exclaimed before hurrying after the red head. Shortly after a pleased looking Sirius appeared.

"You should have seen her face when all that snow crashed down on her. It was epic!" Sirius gushed, grinning widely before following Lily and James.

The Gryffindor Quidditch team had grumbled about it being too cold for their up coming game against Hufflepuff, as the Quidditch season started. Harry remembered all the times he'd flown in dreadful weather and could sympathise.

Harry had continued to join the Slytherins on Saturdays in what James and Sirius called the Snake pit. Remus had opted out of coming as he'd joined the Gobstones club which met every Saturday morning.

It had taken a while but the Slytherins no longer stopped and stared when he entered their domain, they even greeted him with small nods when walking past in the corridors.

There had been a breakthrough with Severus as well. Harry had finally managed to get the truth out of the boy about why he'd been avoiding him. They had been sitting in Severus corner, slightly away from the rest of the relaxed snakes, talking about the revenge Lily had extracted from James involving pink robes thanks to the colour reversal potion.

"So are you ready to tell me why you were avoiding me before?" Harry asked, when there was a lull in their conversation, making Severus fidget.

"I wasn't avoiding you." Severus protested quietly.

"Sure you were." Harry said smiling at the sneer that graced the other boys face.

"Look I told you. I couldn't hang out with a Gryffindor all the time, I need to be more loyal to my own house." Severus said through gritted teeth.

"You didn't seem to care about that before." Harry said eyeing his tense shoulders.

"I don't want to talk about it. It's fine now." Severus said glancing around the room carefully.

"So someone reminded you about house loyalty?" Harry asked quietly, making Severus shrug.

"It doesn't matter." Severus muttered looking uncomfortable.

"I hate bullies!" Harry snapped. He'd gotten Severus accepted by James and Sirius thus stopping them from bullying the other boy. And to now find out that Severus had been bullied anyway made Harry furious.

"Who was it?" Harry demanded calmly. Severus eyed Harry's white knuckled hands with worry.

"It doesn't matter anymore, nobody dares to mess with you now that Professor Slughorn has made you his protégé, I can hang out with you whenever I want now." Severus whispered earnestly eyeing Harry worriedly.

"Harry please just leave it alone, they've stopped now." Severus pleaded at the stubborn set in Harrys jaw. Harry gave a small nod making Severus let out a breath of relief.

"You will let me know if anything happens again." Harry demanded giving Severus a hard stare, making the other boy nod reluctantly. No way was anyone ruining the friendship he'd worked so hard to build.

"Are you going to the Quidditch match?" Severus asked suddenly.

"Of course. It's Gryffindor against Hufflepuff, I'd be hung and quartered if I didn't go and support the lions." Harry said forcing a smile. Severus was clearly desperate to change the topic away from himself. He was more of a potions sort of guy than a Quidditch fanatic after all. Harry remembered Severus glaring at the brooms in distaste on their first flying lesson.

Harry took pity on Severus and changed the subject to their defence homework. He was sure that the homework they got was twice as easy as when he'd last attended first year. The standards had obviously been raised at some point in the future.

The days leading up to the upcoming Quidditch match were slowly driving Harry mad. James was going hyper from all the excitement and wouldn't stop pestering Harry about who he thought would win. The rest of the house were getting slightly fed up as well and kept giving him pleading looks, as if he had the power to stop James and his sidekick.

Sirius had approached Severus to try and get the boy to wear a Gryffindor scarf, making Harry laugh hysterically at the thought of what Severus face must have looked like.

The day had finally arrived, the game was to start within the hour and Harry sat reading in one of the comfy chairs down in the common room.

"Harry! Come on!" James whined staring at him with pleading eyes. He had been trying to get Harry out of the chair for the past half an hour with no luck.

"We need to go if we're to get any good seats. It's our first game and we don't want to miss it!" Sirius added, looking desperate.

"Move!" James shouted, making Harry jump. He eyed James's red face and guessed he'd pushed them far enough. He got up from the seat with a bored look and placed his book into an empty pocket. The boys eyed him hopefully.

"I just need to find Remus." Harry said making Sirius huff. The boy stalked of towards their dormitory whilst muttering darkly. He came down a moment later dragging a confused looking Remus behind.

"Harry? What's going on?" Remus asked pulling his arm from Sirius grip.

"No more talking! We're all sitting together and we're going now!" Sirius said stomping his foot down hard.

"Oh, sorry. Why didn't you say so? I've been ready for ages but I wasn't bothered about where Remus and I were sitting." Harry said, hiding his grin behind a cough at the look of outrage he received.

"Come on then, let get going." Harry said, winking at Remus who was shaking his head. Sirius huffed again and led the way with an annoyed looking James following closely behind.

"Ah, so you finally gave in and joined us?" A fifth year Gryffindor called Bilius asked making room for the four boys on the front row of the Gryffindor stand. Harry shrugged.

"Well they were getting desperate." Harry said ignoring the confused looks aimed at him. He dug in a pocket and fished out a small shrunken bag.

"You wanted one per person right?" He asked Bilius who nodded eagerly.

"I can't believe you got them! The next trip isn't until two weeks from now. Quidditch isn't the same without them." The red head said as Harry pulled out four butter beers from the bag which he'd resized.

"Thanks!" The boy moved over to his own friends who cheered at the sight of the bottles.

"Er, Harry where did you get Butter beers from?" James asked curiously.

"I get around." Harry said, pulling out four more bottles which he handed out. Sirius sighed and took a deep drink from the bottle.

"Harry please, please tell me how you do it. I'll do anything for you!" He begged making puppy eyes at Harry.

"I just pay attention and get around." Harry said, making Sirius pout. The Flying instructor Madam Finch blew her whistle to signal for the teams to come out and Harry motioned for Sirius to quiet down.

"I want to know!" Sirius hissed glaring at him from beside James who rolled his eyes.

"Give it up, he won't tell us. We'll figure something out." James whispered before he jumped from his seat and started cheering loudly as the Gryffindor team flew by.

"I'm joining the team next year for sure." He mumbled in awe as the team got into their position. Sirius nodded from next to him.

"I want to be seeker." Sirius said looking wistful.

"Harry's going to be seeker but we can be the beaters." James said distractedly, watching as the game started. Sirius eyed Harry speculatively.

"Is he any good?" Sirius asked, making James snort.

"Dad won't look at him because he says Harry gives him vertigo. That's how good he is." James said before screaming in excitement as the Gryffindor Chaser almost scored a goal. Sirius gave Harry a last look before immersing himself into the game with James.

The game had almost ended with Hufflepuff winning, but the Gryffindor seeker had been lucky enough to be closer to the snitch when it finally was spotted. Sirius and James had both lost the ability to speak after screaming for most of the game and were now using their own version of sign language to recap the game.

A couple of days later they had regained their voices and were still driving everyone mad. The Gryffindor players were being followed doggedly by the two boys who peppered them with questions and comments. One of the Beaters had looked ready to give them a lesson on why not to annoy a Beater, when Sirius had commented that the guy hadn't seemed to been doing his best during the match. Luckily one of the other teammates had saved them by dragging the Beater away before any damage could be done.

"When I'm a Beater I'll club down everyone on the other teams." Sirius said gleefully up in the dormitory whilst they were getting ready for bed.

"I'll whack the Bludgers at them." James countered eagerly from his bed.

"And then you'll both be banned from playing again." Harry added pulling his robes over his head. James sighed dramatically.

"Harry we wouldn't really do it!" James said making Sirius look surprised.

"It's Quidditch! Your supposed to mash the other team up into little bits!" Sirius exclaimed, he eyed Harry with an exasperated look.

"I guess you have a point." Harry conceded, after pulling on his pyjamas. Sirius grinned and nodded sagely.

"I don't like Quidditch, it's too rough." Peter piped up from over on his bed. He'd pulled out his collection of chocolate frog cards and was sorting through them idly. Sirius rolled his eyes and huffed.

"It's Quidditch." Sirius said again.

"Well my mum says she won't have me coming home in bits and that playing for the team is out of the question." Peter said clearly not intimidated by Sirius.

"And what mummy says, Peter…oomph! Harry!" Sirius glared at Harry who'd hit him on the head with a well aimed pillow.

"If you can't say something nice then don't say anything at all." Harry said giving him a chastening look. Peter gave him a grateful smile. And Sirius moved over to his own bed where he sat glaring at Harry with a pout.

"Look at my new cards Harry, my mum sent me some chocolate frogs." Peter said waving a card in Harry's direction. James was the one moving towards Peters bed however.

"Harry doesn't really collect them, I gave him all my spares but he just doesn't seem like the card collecting type." James said shrugging. Harry looked away guiltily having forgotten all about the cards James had given him.

"Mum wouldn't let me take mine so I haven't been able to trade, said she couldn't trust me not to bring them in to the lessons." James said shaking his head. "As if I'd let myself be caught." He said rolling his eyes.

"But it was hard enough to talk her into letting me take my Zonko stuff, and that was more important so I agreed to leave the cards at home. But I think I'll bring them back after Christmas." James added. Peter eyed him sympathetically.

"I traded Hengist of Woodcroft with Jack in Hufflepuff for Alberic Grunnion." Peter said proudly making James snort.

"What a dolt, Grunnion is a hero. I'd never trade him away, what a good deal!" James said making Peter beam. Sirius, who'd been eyeing them glumly, stood up and shuffled over.

"Sorry for…um, you know." He muttered to Peter who looked up surprised.

"Oh, it's ok. I know I'm not like you but that's ok." Peter said making Sirius perk up. Sirius glanced in Harry's direction but Harry, who was busy digging in his trunk for a book Remus had asked for ,didn't notice.

"Watch this." Peter said holding up one of the cards reverently. James and Sirius moved closer and both boys moaned at the sight of the card.

"Merlin." James moaned and closed his eyes as if unable to believe what he was seeing.

"You got Merlin." James whispered eyeing the card held in Peters hand enviously. "Can I hold it?" He asked making Peter hand the card over carefully into James's waiting hand.

"It's so cool, look at him Sirius. I'm holding Merlin." James gushed making Sirius nudge him.

"Can I hold it too Peter? Please." Sirius begged, looking ecstatic at Peters nod. Harry glanced at them and smiled at the scene they made, all sitting on Peters bed starring at the small card as if it was the Philosophers stone. Getting to bed took awhile as the three boys started comparing stories about who had the best card, best trade and most duplicates. In the end Harry put up a silencer round his bed so he could get to sleep.

Harry was in the library, on his own, looking for helpful spells. Lily had asked him what he wanted for Christmas, sparking the panic of what to get his parents. When he asked James, he'd been informed that they generally received sweets from him. But Harry wanted to give them gifts that meant something. Gifts that showed how glad he was to be part of the family. In the end Harry had decided to make something, as that would be more personal. Harry thought his new mother would like something to do with flowers or gardening. What his father liked he didn't know but he was sure he'd be able to find something.

After collecting several Herbiology books he got seated by one of the empty tables. He found what he wanted in _Germination for the beginner, _It wasn't actually the text itself but one of the pictures. The book had several illustrations showing the seed germinating and then sprouting into bloom which had given Harry the idea of a flower growing inside a glass bowl. Now he just needed to figure out what charm to use to make the seed grow over and over again.

Harry was still in the library an hour later, surrounded by books, when Malfoy walked in carrying a thin book which he placed in the returns box. Madam Pince who was busy sorting through the advanced Arithmancy section didn't glanced up from her work.

"Mr Potter." Malfoy greeted, walking closer much to Harry's regret. Harry had worked hard on being polite to the Slytherins as he didn't want Severus to suffer.

"Hello Mr Malfoy." Harry said, closing the transfiguration book he'd been reading.

"That's quite the collection of books you have there." Malfoy said peering at the books. Harry wanted to roll his eyes but held himself in check.

"I'm researching for a gift I plan on creating for my mother." Harry offered at Malfoy's questioning look. He wondered what the blond, future Deatheater, wanted.

"What have you decided to make?" Malfoy asked making Harry go on high alert. Malfoy had been nothing but polite whenever they met, but seeing as the boy was a seventh year he'd not made any moves to socialise with first year Harry.

Harry was horrified when the other boy pulled out a chair and got seated.

"Er, well my mother enjoys her flowers, so I am planning on giving her a globe with a flower sprouting inside." Harry said, waiting to see what Malfoy really wanted.

Malfoy stared at him for a moment in silence.

"That's quite advanced for a first year don't you think?" He said finally eyeing Harry intently. Harry shrugged.

"Anything is possible if you put in the effort." Harry answered, thinking back on when he'd learnt the Patronus charm in his third year. Malfoy nodded looking thoughtful.

"You are a very odd Gryffindor, Mr Potter. Perhaps Horace is right about you." Malfoy said eventually. Harry wanted to squirm, was Malfoy really telling him he'd make a good Slytherin?

"Being a Slytherin means certain things are expected, I have been observing you and your behaviour is acceptable for a first year. I feel confident that you will not bring shame on our house even though you are from Gryffindor." Malfoy said, making Harry's eyes grow big. Yep, Malfoy had just said that he was an acceptable Slytherin. The world had officially gone mad, he thought.

"Thank you, I shall try not to disappoint you." Harry said, hoping they were done. Malfoy looked pleased with Harry's response but didn't get up from the table, he instead stared at Harry some more.

"There is a rumour Mr Potter. A rumour regarding yourself and someone else. We Slytherins pride ourselves on our elevated positions in the wizardry world and will not tolerate weak minded, low aspiring people to socialise within our circles. Slytherins stick together because of this pride, Mr Potter." Malfoy said looking high and mighty. Harry grinded his teeth together, he really hoped Malfoy wasn't implying that he, Harry join Voldemort. He took a deep breath thinking quickly.

"I understand completely the sentiment of taking pride in who you are and where you are headed. I for one would never lower myself to bow down under anyone else. I am my own man and I will always stand for what I believe in." Harry said firmly staring at Malfoy who clenched his jaw.

"Quite right." Malfoy said eyeing Harry suspiciously.

"Is it true then? Did you really meet The Da…er You-Know-Who? Did he really try to Imperius you?" Malfoy asked seemingly throwing caution to the wind. Harry was surprised as he'd thought Malfoy would have been far more subtle in his questioning.

"Yes, I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Very distasteful man." Harry said casually making Malfoy lean forwards.

"I hear he's very powerful." Malfoy said making Harry shrug.

"What's power if you don't know how to use it right? Besides, he failed." Harry said making Malfoy stare at him in surprise.

"What do you mean, use it right? Power is power." Malfoy said.

"If he's so powerful, why does he attack muggles who can't defend themselves? Is he really powerful or just trying to make people think he is, by going for people who have little chance of protecting themselves?" Harry said fiddling with one of the books in front of him.

"Muggleborns have no place in our society. They are weak and don't understand our society." Malfoy sneered.

"I grew up in the muggle world, yet you seem to have accepted me." Harry commented. Malfoy started and looked away.

"You are different." Malfoy said eventually.

"I doubt I am the only muggle-raised wizard with Slytherin accepted manners. Surely you have Muggleborns and Halfbloods in Slytherin?" Harry asked already knowing the answer. Malfoy nodded looking very reluctant.

"True, but they are few." Malfoy said looking slightly annoyed at Harry's comments. Harry drummed his fingers on the table and took a moment to think, he was not going to get Malfoy changing views about Muggleborns and the like.

"I don't believe that violence will lead to understanding. Nor will I respect anyone who thinks power is all there is to life." Harry said finally. Malfoy leaned back in his chair and eyed Harry with grudging respect.

"And if your loyalty is called into question? We have accepted you as one of our own, can we expect you to act like one?" Malfoy asked making Harry stiffen.

"I will always be there for my friends, but I will not compromise my family name and sign up for something that I don't believe in." Harry stated firmly making Malfoy nod. The older boy finally stood from the table.

"Family does come first of course, but remember that the Slytherin house is your second family now." Malfoy said eyeing Harry sternly.

Harry nodded stiffly and followed Malfoy with his eyes until he disappeared from the room. He took a deep cleansing breath and decided he'd had enough of the library for the moment. He returned all his books to their shelves and left deep in thought. He wasn't sure what the talk with Malfoy would lead to, but hoped it wouldn't have a negative effect on him and Severus.

He sighed and continued up towards the Gryffindor tower deep in thought.


	13. White Christmas

**_Hi here is the new chapter. sorry it took me so long to post it but i had some writing problems with it...but now it's here:) Mina_**

**_I'm Dreaming About a White Christmas_**

* * *

The weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays were flying by fast, the past few weeks had brought more snow and the air had turned frigid leaving most students with red noses. The snow fights had now spread to all houses, ages and even the odd Professor could be seen occasionally partaking in sending a snowball towards an unsuspecting target.

Professor McGonagall had done the rounds in the common room one morning to inquire about who was staying at the castle for Christmas.

Harry had gleefully informed her that _he_ was going home for the holidays, to which she had smiled at his exuberance.

James too, had informed her how much he was looking forwards to all the presents he was going to get, all the food he was going to eat and all the cakes he was going to gorge himself on.

She had looked very apprehensive when he told her that he'd wished for loads of new prank materials from Zonko's.

Sirius who had entertained thoughts of staying at the castle for the holiday had looked very down heartened after receiving a letter from home demanding his presence as it would be unsightly for a Black to stay at the castle.

"I really wanted to stay here. Christmas is going to be really bad this year." Sirius grumbled unhappily whilst crumpling the letter into a small ball. James eyed him worriedly before cracking a smile.

"You can come to our house!" James suggested excitedly. Sirius looked happy for a second before sighing heavily.

"They won't let me go. Do you remember last time? My mum said visits at your house would never happen again, besides they already blame you for me getting sorted into Gryffindor." Sirius said making James grimace.

"What happened last time?" Harry asked curiously. Sirius snorted and seemed to forget his bad mood momentarily and James slowly edged to stand behind Harry.

"Well it involved James, his dad's wand and a…" Sirius stopped mid-sentence at the frantic look on James shaking head. Harry turned and eyed a now blushing James curiously.

"Did I tell you that Mr Ollivander acted really strangely until he realised that I was a Harry Potter instead of a James?" Harry asked making James eyes go round.

"I didn't know wands could feel things! Dads wand had to stay with Ollivander for three days before it was good enough to come home. Dad was really mad and so was Mr Ollivander. I almost didn't get a wand from him." James said shuddering at the memory.

"My mum thinks James is a bad influence." Sirius said smiling at his best friend before looking morose again.

"So I'll have to go home and hear all about how I have shamed the family yet again." He sighed. James patted his shoulder comfortingly.

Harry who remembered how Sirius had spoken about Grimmauld Place with disgust and how horrible his parents had been about him ending up in Gryffindor wondered if James wasn't right about inviting Sirius over to their house.

Maybe he Harry should ask his new parents about it and see if Sirius could come over, even if it only resulted in a few days.

Sirius plight caused Harry to think about Severus, he remembered Snape's memories when they'd had Harry's _remedial potion lessons_. He wondered if he should ask for permission to invite Severus over too. He wasn't sure the Slytherin boy would come but he could at least try.

Remus too was very excited about going home. He'd told Harry how his father blamed himself for Remus being attacked and that their relationship wasn't the best. He was hoping that the news about the progress that was being made with the Wolfsbane potion would make his father feel less guilty. The full moon was favourable this year and so he was going to travel round the country quite a lot to visit family which he hadn't done for years.

Harry had finally managed to finish his Christmas presents.

His mums present had been the hardest to create and he'd ended up asking professor Flitwick for help. The Ravenclaw head of house had been astounded when Harry explained what he wanted to do and he had been more than happy to explain the theory behind the spell. He had showed Harry how to cast the spells on the globe before sending him to see Slughorn for a rejuvenating potion which would help keep the seed from dying.

Harry had rather enjoyed making the potion in Slughorn's office as he had been supplied with mini Treacle tarts which were his favourite. He was rather pleased with the finished present and the fifteen points earned from both professors for taking on extra curricular work.

He had asked an upper year student to photograph James and himself as a joint present for their dad. He had made a copy for himself and had made sure to mention in his letter back home how much he'd like a camera for Christmas. Harry had transfigured a somewhat rough looking frame from some twigs he'd collected in the forbidden forest, without James help.

James was getting a book on magical maps, a piece of parchment and magical inc. Harry was not going to make The Marauders map but he didn't mind sowing the seed for it. It would be a good way to get James and Sirius doing some actual work.

He had made other gifts for the rest of his friends too which he was going to hand over on the train ride home. Harry even made sure to get presents for some of his teachers. He wanted to continue his prosperous relationship with Slughorn and had gotten the professor a box of fine dark chocolate truffles. He'd purchased the same brand for Malfoy, the older boy had after all been helpful in getting Harry accepted by the other Slytherins.

Harry had been tempted to give McGonagall a box of catnip but felt she might not appreciate the gift, in the end he had transfigured a shiny, grey stone into a cat figurine that actually did resemble the professors tabby animagus. Well Harry thought so at least.

The headmaster was going to receive a pair of knitted socks. Harry had seen the soft, red and gold socks in the window of Gladrags when he was on his unauthorised shopping trip in Hogsmead. They were made from bunny fur which Harry thought was hilarious. The thought of Dumbledore walking around with bunnies on his feet made him laugh. He'd had to avoid looking at Dumbledore for the days after buying the socks as his lips started twitching whenever he saw the man.

The last week of the term was dragging on for what seemed like forever. They were doing fun things in some of the classes like transfiguring tree ornaments and learning how to charm golden bubbles to come out of their wands. But History of Magic was the same as always, which made it the perfect last minute Christmas wrapping room. Potion was spent mostly listening to Slughorn telling them about all the Christmas cards he'd received from notable people so far.

Finally the day had arrived. They were going home.

Getting onto the Hogwarts train in the afternoon with the rest of the gang was the highlight of Harrys week. He couldn't wait to go home, all his presents for the family were packet. He'd shrunken the gifts he was giving out on the train and they were safe in his pocket. Iggy had headed to the Potters at the same time as the rest of them had left school to get on to the train. So Harry was all sorted and ready for the holiday.

"Gosh, it feels so strange to be back on the train heading home." Lily said when they had all squeezed into their compartment. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter on one side and Lily, Alice, Severus and Harry on the other.

"I know. It feels like only yesterday that I met Harry and the two boys scared of girls." Alice said smiling at the look that appeared on James face.

"We don't mind girls anymore. Right Sirius?" James said loftily before nudging Sirius into nodding.

"Sure, whatever." The other boy mumbled gloomily, not looking away from the scene outside the window showing Hogwarts getting further and further away.

"I wanted to stay at the castle too." Severus said, fidgeting at the looks he received.

"Well, professor Slughorn holds a Christmas party for all the Slytherins left at school. And I'm not allowed to brew at home." He added defensively. Lily pouted next to him.

"Well I'm glad you're not staying as I wouldn't have anyone to hang out with in between the dinners and the present opening." She said making Severus brighten up.

"As long as Petunia doesn't hang out with us I don't mind." Severus said, making Lily furrow her brows.

"You should be nice to her and maybe she'll be nicer to us." Lily scolded him looking hopeful. Harry silently agreed with the unbelieving snort Severus made as he knew exactly what dear aunt Petunia was like.

"My mum and dad are taking me to see all the family, I'm really excited as we usually just stay at home." Remus said quietly opposite from Harry. He had told Harry that all trips to family members had to be worked round the full moon.

"I'm visiting my grandparents on their farm in the Yorkshire dales. They're from my mums side of the family and they really like hearing about magic stuff. My dad had to vanish their tractor before they believed he was telling them the truth about magic and wizards." Peter said excitedly. James asked him what a tractor was which led to a long discussion on different muggle devises.

The rest of the journey home was quickly filled with stories of Christmas past and present swapping. Before they knew it the train was slowing down and Kings Cross station came into view. Amid promises to write and Merry Christmas wishes they all piled out onto the platform. Peter was the first to spot his parents and flung himself into his frail looking mothers arms with the air of a small boy who'd missed his mother very much.

Severus and Lily were the next to go. Lily's parents, who Harry eyed curiously, stood with a sallow faced woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to Severus. Harry also spotted Petunia who stood with her arms crossed looking bored with the commotion on the platform.

Remus spotted his parents next and dragged Harry over to meet them. They were unfortunately on a tight schedule as they were catching a train on the muggle side and as such Harry only met with them for the shortest of moments. Remus looked disappointed and could only wave as he was pulled through the barrier and disappeared from view.

Harry was the first to spot the Potters and suffered a moment of shyness before smiling at their beaming faces.

"My boys! It has been so long. How was your journey? Are you hungry? I have the tree ready for decorating at home." Mrs Potter babbled whilst hugging them both close. James whose face was mashed against Harrys shoulder struggled to get out from her embrace.

Mr Potter took pity on him and pronounced that it was his turn to do hugs and as such rescued both boys.

"Sirius darling, how has Hogwarts treated you? I heard you got sorted into Gryffindor." Mrs Potter said hugging the still gloomy looking Sirius.

"Mm, it's been good." He mumbled making her eye him worriedly.

"I managed to convince your mother to let you come over after Boxing Day and we'll have you until school starts again." She said making Sirius whole face glow and he soon had a smile stretching from one side of his face to the other. Mrs Potter patted his back gently.

"Harry wrote how worried you were about your parents reaction to you being a Gryffindor so I had a word with Walburga about you coming over for a portion of the holiday. She was happy for you to come as long as James behaves." She added making Sirius eye Harry, who was busy talking with Mr Potter, with a fond look.

"Dorea and Charlus, how lovely to see you both again." A stern voice greeted making them all turn. Sirius went pale at the sight of his mother and father approaching.

"Walburga, how lovely. And how are you Orion?" Mr Potter greeted shaking hands with Sirius father. Harry who had been in close contact to Sirius mothers portrait was feeling apprehensive about finally meeting her in real life.

"So is this the boy then?" Mrs Black asked staring at Harry who struggled to not fidget under her gaze.

"Yes this is Harry, our newest addition." Mrs Potter said proudly, making Harry step forwards.

"Harry this is Mr and Mrs Black." She introduced Sirius parents.

"Pleased to meet you Mrs Black, Mr Black." Harry greeted, offering them a small bow having learnt that Slytherins liked all that formal stuff.

"Well, he clearly has good manners and he's definitely a Potter with those looks." Mrs Black said sharply looking him up and down.

"My Niece Narcissa is betrothed to the wonderful Malfoy boy, I hear he has taken quite a shine to you. Says that he wholly approves of your mannerism and that you have a good respect for family honour." She said eyeing Harry speculatively. Harry shuddered at the thought of Malfoy holding him in high regards.

"He has been very knowledgeable and seems to take great pride in his family too." Harry said, struggling to say something positive about Malfoy. Mrs Black seemed to approve of his comments which made him relax slightly.

"My other niece Bellatrix however has clearly taken leave of her senses. I hear she was conspiring against you, why we are still closely enough related for such an act to be frowned upon. To bring shame on the family in such a way, clearly my sister was too lenient with her or maybe it's that Lestrange boys fault." Mrs Black said to Harrys horror. First Malfoy accepted him as a Slytherin and now Sirius mother protested about his treatment at Bellatrix hand. Where was the world headed?

"Well I must say Sirius, at first we were very upset about your house placement. But young Harry here clearly proves that good blood comes out no matter what house you end up in. We shall of course expect you to uphold the family name and not bring shame on your family." Mr Black said making his wife nod in agreement. Sirius eyed them with a look of amazement and disbelief before stuttering in agreement to the terms given.

"We should be off, but shall I floo you on Boxing Day when we are ready for Sirius arrival?" Mrs Potter asked. The adults made small talk for a moment sorting out the dates and times for the holiday get together.

Sirius flung himself into a very shocked Harrys arms, behind his parents back. James was smiling and doing a victory dance next to them, clearly pleased at the prospect of having Sirius over for the holiday.

"Thank you Harry. Thank you so much." He whispered fervently, he wiped his face surreptitiously and Harry thought his eyes were rather shiny. He really hoped Sirius parents stayed in a good mood and was happy to continue sucking up to them if it helped Sirius with his home life.

The next few days were a dream come true. They dressed the Christmas tree, sang carols and ate good food. Christmas came with James and Harry receiving a mountain of gifts each to open.

Mrs Potter was overwhelmed by her flower in a globe and Mr Potter laughed at the clowning around the pictured boys were doing.

Harry received his wished for camera and had started using it straight after opening the present. He was going to create the largest family album in the world.

Harry also received a chocolate drinking set from Dumbledore with a thank you card saying the Headmaster loved his new socks. Mrs Potter had looked surprised at Harry receiving gifts from the Headmaster until James with a shrug had said that Harry and the Headmaster both liked hot chocolate.

Professor Slughorn had given him a book on all the newly patented and experimental potions listed in the ministry. His head of house had sent him a card thanking him for her gift and given him an E for his workmanship.

From his friends he'd received mostly books and sweets.

James had looked slightly puzzled at Harrys gift. Harry had pointed out that if he and Sirius ever hoped to get around the castle as well as him they obviously needed a map.

Sirius had arrived looking whole and healthy much to Harrys relief.

They had spent much of the time since, either flying or running around the house duelling with the set of educational wands James had received for Christmas. The wands would shoot a different colour depending on what spell, strength and accuracy the user cast.

Harry seemed unable to shoot out any other colour than gold which wasn't even one of the specified colours. Sirius and James shoot out a multitude of colours however which meant they were functional, much to Harrys chagrin.

Harry also learnt that the Lupins were arriving for a surprise visit on New Years Eve and were staying for the night. James was more excited about being allowed to stay up until midnight with Sirius than with anything else.

When the Lupins rang on the doorbell Harry rushed to answer as he was tired of being targeted by the terrible duo for their prank testing.

The look on Remus face when Harry opened the door was priceless.

"Harry? We were going to Harry?" He exclaimed in surprise. Harry laughed and motioned for them to come in. Remus dad was a wizard but his mother was a muggle much to Sirius and James amazement. They peppered her with questions of how she survived day to day without magic, until Mrs Potter sent them away with a glare.

"So sorry! Please do come in, we were so pleased you could make it. James after all was able to have a friend come over so it wouldn't be fair on Harry." Mrs Potter said leading them into the house. Harry led an ecstatic Remus up to his room.

"I didn't know we were coming here! They didn't say a thing! I was really mad when we had to leave so soon at the station, you didn't really have a chance to meet my mum and dad." Remus said when they were seated on Harrys bed. Iggy flew over and was rewarded with soft strokes from Remus. They spent the evening in Harrys room setting up Remus sleeping bag, comparing presents and generally just relaxing. James and Sirius made a few annoying appearances but Harry would just start talking about school work which seemed to be a great deterrent and usually got them to leave.

They all had a midnight feast whilst watching the fireworks from the garden, there seemed to be a mixture of the normal muggle variety and the more extravagant wizard version.

Harrys favourite had been the green welsh dragon which had made them all gasp in amazement when it flew past.

The next morning a bleary eyed Harry had to wave the Lupins goodbye as they were of to visit grandparents before the holiday ended. He'd been sent back up to bed as they were going to the New Year market in the afternoon which was held on the square in Godrics Hollow.

Apparently the wizards in the neighbourhood all got together and celebrated New Year day with a small market where you could get enchanted balloons, cakes, sweets and other seasonal goods.

They bundled up and left the house after lunch ready for more fun and games. James and Sirius shoot off as soon as the first stall was within sight and Mr Potter hurried after them, least they bring the whole market down. Harry recognised a few familiar faces in the crowd and was told by Mrs Potter that the market had been getting busier and busier every year.

He got a bag of sugared almonds and walked around the market munching happily on them. James and Sirius seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time. One moment they would be looking at the enchanted balloons and the next they would be gone. Mr Potter would be looking around in panic until finally spotting them at a stall further away before the process was repeated all over again. The boys went on flying carpets, hit Bludgers into nets for prizes and ate a large amount of sweets.

Mrs Potter had left Harry by the central war memorial as she mingled contently with her neighbours safe in the knowledge that Harry would stay where he was left without causing mayhem or damage.

Harry eyed the crowd of people happily from his central view point, waving at the ever appearing duo and the slightly harassed looking Mr Potter whenever they went past. Mrs Potter was seated by a small tent serving hot drinks and had supplied Harry with a thermos of hot cocoa.

When the sky had darkened sufficiently, fireworks were once again fired up at the night sky. These once were exclusively of the wizarding kind and Harry spent the time watching dragons, lions and all matter of birds bursting forth much to the delight of the whooping crowd. It wasn't until people started running past him that he became aware that the whooping had turned to screams.

"Well here we are again boy." Harry turned at the voice and stared in dismay at the sight of Voldemort.

"We would have met sooner if I had known where to look. One of my faithful followers spotted you here and came to me at once I have been looking forward to seeing you again." Voldemort continued. Harry didn't dare look around for the Potters or Sirius as he didn't want to draw attention to them being here.

"What do you want? Why are you so interested in me?" Harry asked making Voldemort smile.

"What do I want? I want Power of course." Voldemort stepped closer to him.

"And why do I find you interesting? Well, you remind me of myself." He said making Harry grit his teeth.

"I am nothing like you!" Harry spat, pulling his wand out ever so slowly to be prepared. The Dark Lord smiled again and gave a short chuckle.

"Such bravery from such a small boy. You really are an enigma young Mr Potter. Here you stand ready to fight me like a man, whilst the adults in your midst rush around in panic like the weak cowards they are." Voldemort said looking around at the chaos his Deatheaters were wrecking.

"I approve of such strength of character, I wish to mould you into the powerful wizard you promise to become." Voldemort continued. Harrys wand hand twitched at the comment but he held it steady with a will of steel.

"I have no heir but for you, oh honorary Slytherin, I offer the opportunity of a life time. Join me and the world shall be yours to command one day." Voldemort offered. Harry eyed the man he'd fought on so many occasions with tired resignation. He, Harry was no longer going to be able to live his, dreamed of normal life any longer. He was back to being the chosen one.

"I wouldn't join you for all the power in the world." Harry said finally when it became apparent Voldemort had finished his little speech. The Dark Lord eyed him with a sneer.

"I do not offer such a chance to just anyone, boy! I suggest you take a moment to think on your answer." Voldemort prompted.

"No, I'm not interested." Harry said pulling out his wand, ready for the action to begin. All he needed to do was hold Voldemorts attention until the Aurors arrived. He should manage that, Harry hoped.

Voldemort laughed cruelly at the sight of Harry standing ready to fight.

"See this boy here! He stands before me ready to die like a man! You shall see me grant his wish!" Voldemort called out making the sounds around them go quiet. The Deatheaters held the crowd at wand point and Harry wondered at the peoples inability to fight back. There were more of the goodies than the baddies, surely they realised this.

"No, please leave him be! He's only a boy!" Harrys heart froze with fear at the plea from Mrs Potter. Please don't let Voldemort turn on her.

"Shall we do this then? You can prove once and for all that you are more powerful than an eleven year old." Harry taunted, pulling all the attention back upon himself. He prayed that Mrs Potter would keep quiet and be safe until the Aurors arrived.

"Eager for death are you? Perhaps I shall reunite your new mother with you when I have disposed of you, so that you have more company in death." Voldemort said pulling his wand out for the first time.

"Expelliarmus." Voldemort said casually flicking his wand in Harrys direction.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" Harry shouted at the same time putting as much force as he could into the spell. The look on Voldemorts face as he was pushed back several feet was one Harry would cherish for a long time. Harrys spell which had been more powerful than Voldemorts had still not knocked the Dark Lord over.

Voldemort opened his mouth to deliver yet another speech and Harry took the chance to launch into a spell frenzy. He'd say he'd learnt them all from books later when people asked.

"ACCIO WAND! STUPEFY! PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" Harry was firing off spells at a fast rate whilst Voldemort was busy putting up shields. The Dark Lord started laughing.

"Join me boy! Join my brotherhood and you shall long for nothing!" He called seemingly non threatened by Harrys spells. Harry couldn't believe the Aurors were taking so long.

"I'll never join you! You're pathetic and weak!" Harry called out making Voldemorts smile vanish.

"That is the third time I have offered you a place by my side! Yet you still deny my power?" Voldemort said lifting his wand with a determined air.

"IMPERIO!" Voldemort cried, focusing solely on Harry. Harry felt the feeling of peace and utter contentment wash over him before sliding off just as quickly. The spell clearly didn't work on him at all now.

"You will kill them all, boy! Kill them now!" Voldemort ordered.

"Bugger off!" Harry snapped. He was getting past scared and worried about the bystanders, he was getting angry now. His wand started spitting sparks and Voldemort eyed him in genuine confusion.

"Who are you boy?" He asked bringing his own wand up again.

"My name is HARRY!" Harry screamed, he was getting really tired of being called boy. He fired of an _Impedimenta_ silently and was rewarded with the sight of Voldemort being knocked of his feet.

"HOLD YOUR WANDS!" A chorus of voices ordered. Harry wanted to roll his eyes at the Aurors and ask what had kept them so long but Voldemort rose from the ground in all his furious glory.

"You think to best me, Lord Voldemort!" He challenged, moving towards Harry who shot off yet another _Stupefy. _

"HOLD YOUR WAN…" The Auror had to quickly jump to the side as Voldemort shot the killing curse in his general direction whilst side stepping Harrys spell.

"You will die here tonight boy! No one is stronger than I, least of all you, a mere boy." Voldemort sneered. He was ignoring the Aurors and the Deatheaters now in battle. All his focus was on Harry who didn't dare look away from his adversary.

"Lord Voldemort shall not be threatened by a boy!" Voldemort said making Harry wonder who the man was trying to convince. Harry or himself?

"Avada Kedavra!" The green light was coming at Harry fast. Too fast for him too react to. Was he dying here then, dying yet again? A flash of gold and Voldemort let out a scream of frustration.

"Dumbledore, always Dumbledore! We depart!" Voldemort called to his faithful Deatheaters.

"I will be back for you boy! Mark my words. You may have power, but you are not my equal yet!" Voldemort called before apparating away. The Aurors were left with two unconscious Deatheaters and no deaths.

Harry gently scooped the tiny Iggy off the ground and cradled him close to his chest.

"Thank you." He whispered, giving Iggys bald head a kiss.

"HARRY! LET ME THROUGH! THAT'S MY SON!" Mrs Potter ordered the Aurors as they stepped forwards to stop her. She lifted Harry off the ground and into a tight embrace.

"Merlin save me. Oh, dear sweet lord, don't you ever frighten me like that again." She whispered into his neck.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" She then shouted into his ear before she let him down onto his own two feet. Harry backed away from her and rubbed his ringing ear.

"I just kept him occupied until the Aurors came, I didn't want him to hurt anyone." Harry said, shocked at the anger on her face. His words made the gathered people gasp and Harry saw the Aurors start directing people away from the area.

"You kept him occupied?" Mrs Potter exclaimed making him nod. The Aurors standing near enough to follow the conversation could but stare at the small boy who was telling his mother the reason he duelled the Dark Lord.

"Yes, the Deatheaters weren't doing anything as long as Voldemort was busy with me." Harry explained making her stiffen in worried anger before deflating as what he was saying was the truth. Nobody but he and Voldemort had actually duelled, come to think of it, he'd come out far better this time than last. Although that was all thanks to Iggy. Mrs Potter continued to stare at him shell-shocked until Mr Potter, James and Sirius all joined them by the war memorial.

"Harry…I, don't know…Are you alright son?" Mr Potter asked pulling him into a hug slowly. James gave a loud hiccup which made Harry crack up in hysteric laughter. He couldn't seem to stop now that he'd started. He was going to have to kill Voldemort all over again was all he could think.

"He's gone into shock. Better take him to St. Mungos." The Auror said to Mr Potter. James hiccups had turned into sniffling and he and Sirius were grabbed in a tight embrace by Mrs Potter who looked like she needed it as much as them.

"If I may suggest Hogwarts instead, where Mr Potters Mediwitch resides." Dumbledore said, having suddenly appeared on the scene.

He held out a squeaky dog toy for the Potters and Sirius to take and Harry felt the familiar tugging of a port key before they left Godrics Hollow and returned to school.


	14. The Minister of Magic

_**Hi sorry for the wait and thank you for the reviews: )** _  
**_I'm not happy with what I wrote before and I'm still working on the rest of the chapter. Thought you might like this in the meanwhile. Mina_**

* * *

**The Minister of Magic.**

Harry stumbled as the portkey arrived into the Hogwarts hospital wing and held Iggy protectively against his chest. Mr Potter grabbed hold of his shoulder tightly to stop Harry from falling, before pulling him in for a hard hug.  
"I thought we had lost you." He mumbled into Harry's hair softly.

"What is the matter? Why are all these people here, Headmaster? Harry dear…" Madam Pomfrey said, she'd come rushing out of her office when they appeared. She looked surprised to see them all, but headed in Harry's direction first as everyone else seemed to be casting worried looks at him.

"The Potters were present at a Deatheater attack, Poppy. Harry here even managed to duel Voldemort himself again." Dumbledore said, making Pomfrey gasp. Dumbledore was eyeing Harry with a look of speculation.

"What? Again?" Pomfrey exclaimed, sending Harry a look of dismay.

"Well, are you hurt? Come here so I can have a good look at you." She ordered, motioning for the closest bed, which Harry jumped up on with practised ease.  
Pomfrey waved her wand over him and clucked her tongue.

"And what about you two? Into bed and I'll check you out as well!" She said looking at the pale James and the wide eyed Sirius.

"But we didn't duel anyone." Sirius protested futilely. James who was still hiccupping climbed into bed without a fuss.

"It was really scary, that man was trying to hurt Harry, and the other guys were wearing these white masks and they pointed their wands at us …and…" James was interrupted mid-sentence as Pomfrey had him drown a potion she'd summoned as she listened to him babble. "…and Harry was just duelling that man and then…then…then…"James yawned once, mumbled something incoherent and promptly fell asleep.

"A Sleeping draught, poor dear is in shock." Madam Pomfrey said, making Mrs Potter relax slightly.

"I wasn't scared." Sirius said, looking around at the adults and Harry.  
"Well, not much and I don't need a potion!" He said in case Pomfrey got the idea of forcing one down his throat as well.

"Oh, Sirius! I need to contact your parents. They'll want you to come home so that they can see that you are alright." Mrs Potter said, clearly upset that she'd overlooked contacting them. Sirius eyed her horrified.

"What! No ,don't tell them what happened! Can't I just stay here?" Sirius pleaded desperately.

"Oh, sweetheart. I know you don't want to worry them, but they would never forgive me if I didn't let them know what happened. I wouldn't forgive myself." Mrs Potter said, stroking Sirius cheek gently.

Madam Pomfrey led her to the floo in her office and they disappeared from sight. Sirius sank down in the bed dejectedly.

"Now then Harry, that was some impressive spell work you did. Where did you learn them all? I do believe most of them are taught to upper year students only." Dumbledore said, after conjuring up a comfortable chair which he seated himself in.

Harry who had hoped to escape any questions, gently stroked Iggy's bald head. Iggy gave a feeble sound and leaned into Harry's hands tiredly.

"Headmaster!" Pomfrey scolded from the doorway. Dumbledore gave her a quick glance.

"Now, Poppy, I'm afraid this discussion is best held now, whilst the memories are fresh in our minds. Besides which, I'm sure I will be keeping the ministry from doing the same to our young patient here." Dumbledore defended himself.

"The ministry can wait! Harry has had a frightening ordeal and needs peace and quiet so that he can rest!" Pomfrey snapped, patting Harry's head softly.

Mr Potter was looking between the Headmaster and the Mediwitch with bemusement.

"I must agree with the Headmaster on the issue, I do believe the ministry will want to see Harry and they may not take no for an answer this time. Harry would you please answer the Headmasters questions. " Mr Potter said, giving Harry an apologetic look.

Dumbledore nodded looking pleased whilst Pomfrey frowned.

"Well, er…I guess I just pick things up." Harry said hesitantly, the excuse had worked before. None of the present adult looked convinced though.  
"Er…and Iggy tells me stuff and er…I study loads with the Slytherins." Harry said, with a hint of desperation.

"The Slytherins?" Mr Potter asked surprised.

"You understand when your phoenix friend talks to you?" Dumbledore asked in an equally surprised tone. Harry eyed Dumbledore curiously, why was it so surprising that Iggy spoke to him?

Didn't Fawkes speak to him? He glanced down at Iggy who shook his bald head slightly.

"Why not?" Harry asked surprised, ignoring the other for a moment, he'd have thought that Fawkes and Dumbledore spoke all the time.  
Iggy looked into his eyes and Harry saw himself being consumed in phoenix fire, at the white Kings Cross Station they'd left, before travelling back in time. Had Fawkes done something to him with the fire that allowed him to see these pictures in his head, he wondered. Iggy nodded as if reading his mind.  
"Er, ok." Harry mumbled, as the tiny phoenix buried his head under Harry's hand and closed its eyes.

"Fascinating." Dumbledore murmured, looking between the half hidden baby Iggy and Harry with bright eyes.

"Why do you study with the Slytherins Harry? Why not your own house?" Mr Potter asked, used to Harry and Iggy conversing. Sirius snorted making them all turn, they'd forgotten he was there.

"Harry is like…like an honorary Slytherin, you know." Sirius explained, looking quite happy to have their attention focused on himself. Harry was quite happy too.

"Horace is rather enchanted by you, Harry." Dumbledore agreed, bringing the focus back onto Harry.

"Yes, he's sent us quite a lot of owl's, I'd hazard a guess and say that you're one of his favourite students." Mr Potter said, nodding at Dumbledore's words.

Harry felt his cheeks redden slightly, he did seem to have made a good impression on Slughorn again. But then, he did have six years of potions know-how, not to mention the Slughorn skills he'd learnt during his sixth year.

"Sirius, your mother would like a quick word. I'll come with you dear don't look so worried. She's quite un-alarmed now that I've explained that you are well and whole." Mrs Potter said, walking into the room again.

Sirius looked crestfallen and slowly dragged himself out of bed and made it over to the doorway.

"Harry I must ask, what possessed you to duel Voldemort again?" Dumbledore asked, looking quite curious.

"Well, nobody else was doing anything." Harry said as if it was obvious.  
"I had to do something!" Harry said defensively, at the three looks of disbelief he received.  
"I did! Voldemort is a big bully and was going to hurt everyone. I was just keeping him distracted until the Aurors appeared. I don't get why nobody else did anything, there were more of us than them!" Harry ranted heatedly at them. Dumbledore's eyebrows rose at Harry's description of Voldemort as a bully.

A slight sound from the entrance made them all turn.

"You mean to say, that you see one of the darkest wizards of our time as a mere bully?" A man asked in disbelief. Minister Barty Crouch Sr entered the room fully, staring hard at Harry.  
"You-Know-Who is proving to be much more than a bully, boy! But you are far too young to understand the current situation we are dealing with." He said dismissively. Harry bristled in the bed.

"Well maybe the ministry needs better Aurors, if an eleven year old can beat the darkest wizard of our time." Harry said snidely. He was fed up with annoying ministers. Either they loved him or they hated him, well he wasn't taking it anymore.

Mr Potter tapped him on the head lightly.

"Harry, mind your manners." He said, not sounding bothered in the slightest.

"So'rry!" Harry said mulishly to the colouring minister.

"I do agree with young mister Potter here. The ministry puts far too much power in Voldemort's hands by fearing him. He is but, one man after all." Dumbledore said patting Harrys shoulder comfortingly. Harry grinned, cheered by the support.

"Well, that's easy for you to say!" The minister muttered.

"Not at all, minister. I am after all just a man myself." Dumbledore said humbly. Crouch snorted and shook his head.

"We both know you could have easily been made minister if you wished. And it is common knowledge that You-Know-Who fears you." Crouch said stiffly.

"You should call him Voldemort, you know. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." Harry piped in smugly. Crouch glared at him whilst Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"Quite right you are Harry." Dumbledore said, smiling down at Harry. The minister looked between them as if they'd both lost their minds.

"Well…Well who taught you all those spells then boy? Surely they are too advanced for a first year student? Small boys like yourself, should not try to play the hero." Crouch said, making Harry puff up with anger.

"I wasn't playing the hero! Nobody else was doing anything so I was just keeping him distracted! Where were you when all this was happening, at home having tea?" Harry snapped. How dare Crouch talk to him like that?

"Now see here boy! I am the Minister of Magic! You will address me with respect!" Crouch spluttered angrily.

"Respect is earned!" Harry spat back angrily. Pomfrey who had walked into the room in the middle of their argument stood glaring at the minister.

"Minister I must protest! He's a little boy and he's been through a most frightening experience tonight. Surely now is not the time to interrogate him?" She asked in an affronted tone. Crouch coloured and stood straighter, as if only now realising that he was arguing with an eleven-year-old, bedridden boy.

"Quite right madam, I do apologise." He said straightening his robes.  
"If I may have a word Headmaster." Crouch said, ignoring the glare Harry sent him.

"Of course Minister. Harry, I shall return later to see that you have settled." Dumbledore said, patting Harry on the head. He then motioned for Mr Potter to accompany them.  
"I wanted a quick word with you Charlus, you don't mind do you Minister? Good, lets be off then." Dumbledore led them out of the room with a merry twinkle in his eyes.

Pomfrey huffed and gently smoothed Harry's duvet cover until it lay crease free over his legs.

Mrs Potter and a cheerier looking Sirius returned into the room.  
"Mum says I can stay!" Sirius said smiling brightly at Harry.  
"She wants you to teach me some spells though, if we have time during the rest of the holiday." He added, looking at Harry pleadingly. Mrs Potter smiled at his antics and came to stand by Harry's bed after checking on the sleeping James.

"How are you sweetheart?" She asked, stroking his cheek softly. She looked calmer now than she had before, Harry thought.

"I'm good. He didn't hit me with anything this time. Well the Imperious he cast, kind of skated of me as soon as it hit." Harry said thoughtfully. Pomfrey gasped and pulled out her wand. She started casting several diagnostic spells at him.

"Why didn't anyone say anything? I didn't think to cast any mental scans as you looked so calm." She said, glaring lightly at him.

"Sorry, Madam Pomfrey." Harry said with a grin. She snorted and gave him a soft rap on the head for his cheek. Sirius laughed from his bed before giving a huge yawn.

"Heads on the pillows both of you, you'll sleep here tonight!" Pomfrey said to Harry and Sirius.

Harry shrugged and summoned a second pillow from another bed. He gently slid Iggy onto it before rolling onto his side, the beds here were comfortable so he didn't mind staying the night.

He missed the surprised looks he received from the women at his casual display of a fourth year charm.

"Mrs Potter, you and your husband may of course stay here tonight as well." Pomfrey said to Mrs Potter after a moment of quiet. Mrs Potter looked relieved as the thought of returning to Godrics Hollow, without the boys wasn't tempting.

Harry heard them talking softly in the background, before their voices blended and he slipped of into sleep.

The next morning he woke up, by someone poking his shoulder repeatedly. He opened his eyes and glared at a fully awake James.

"Dumbledore was talking to mum and dad in the office. He said that you're in the prophet and that it's too dangerous to go home. They're going to put some sort of security wards on our house. We get to stay here today and play Quidditch, but we're not allowed to go out on our own." James said quickly. Harry blinked sleepily and tried to make sense of what he'd just been told.

"And I get to stay here too." Sirius said happily from the other side of Harry's bed. Harry eyed them both groggily before pulling his pillow over his head.

"Go away." He muttered sleepily. Iggy who was seated on the pillow next to him gave a sound of agreement.

"You know, he's kind of cute when he's like this. Kind of looks like a tiny dragon without scales." Sirius's muffled voice said, through Harry's pillow.

Iggy gave an insulted squawk and the boys moved out into the hallway and soon disappeared. Harry gave a small grunt of laughter at Sirius comment.

"I think you look just like a baby phoenix should." Harry said, lifting his pillow and glancing at Iggy. The phoenix sent him a small glare, having heard the grunt.  
"Breakfast?" Harry asked, coming awake slowly. Iggy bobbed his head in agreement.

They got out of bed and made it down to the Great Hall.

Harry had placed Iggy in his pocket for safekeeping as the bird didn't like to be seen by the student in general. James and Sirius were seated at the near, empty Gryffindor table and waved at Harry as he entered the Hall.

There seemed to be only a handful of students staying at Hogwarts this Christmas, but all of them turned and stared as Harry made his way over to the two boys. Even the teachers up at the Head table gazed down at him, making Harry wonder if he'd forgotten something.

"You should see the front page of the Prophet Harry, it's so cool!" Sirius said handing the newspaper over to Harry, who dreaded too look.

There was a picture of him jabbing his wand in Voldemort's direction and Voldemort backing away under the onslaught. It did look rather cool, Harry agreed. But he could see Voldemort getting upset about it, which meant he'd be coming for revenge. Harry's normal days were definitely over.

"Look at what they call you Harry!" Sirius urged him, with James nodding excitedly from next to him. Harry skimmed the text and groaned.

_The-Boy-Who-Dared!_

_In an encounter which has stunned the wizarding world, young Harry Potter, only a first year student at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry fought He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The young boy held the Dark Lord and his servants, the Deatheaters, at bay until the ministry arrived. _

_One onlooker has reported how the brave boy stood up to the feared Dark Lord without care for his own safety._

_Read all the eyewitness accounts on page 2  
__Read more about You-Know-Who on page 4 _

Great Harry thought, make Voldemort even more eager to get a hold of him. James and Sirius gazed at him with awed looks.

"It's so cool! I can't believe you're on the front page Harry!" James gushed. Sirius nodded and they grinned at him. Harry didn't think they quite got the gravity of the situation here.

"Not cool, he's going to be really pissed." Harry muttered darkly. He grabbed some toast and pulled the bowl of Satsuma's nearer. He peeled one and put a small slice into his pocket, before taking a bite of the toast.

"Well he won't win, will he? I mean he's rubbish! You had him falling over and all." Sirius said, clearly not fazed.

Harry stared at the boy incredulously. Did they think it was easy fighting Voldemort or something? He couldn't believe their blaze attitude all of a sudden.

"We talked about it whilst you were sleeping. He's not a very good Dark Lord is he, if an eleven year old can beat him. Although, you are kind of good for someone our age." Sirius said thoughtfully.

Harry blinked once, before sliding another slice of Satsuma into his pocket.  
"Glad to hear that someone thinks highly of me." Harry muttered darkly, making Sirius beam at him.

"Good morning boys, how did you sleep?" Mrs Potter said, as she and Mr Potter got seated on either side of Harry. Mr Potter folded the abandoned newspaper away and grabbed a Satsuma from the bowl.

"Fine." Harry muttered, whilst James and Sirius launched into excited plans for the day. Harry glanced around the room to find everyone still staring at him.

"Just try and ignore the attention Harry. I'm sure it'll er…die down at some point." Mr Potter said hopefully, before nodding to James who had gotten up from the table asking if he and Sirius could leave the hall.

"Stay inside until I come and accompany you though boys." He added before James and Sirius disappeared from the Hall. They both groaned before slowly exiting from view.

Mr Potter gave Harry a quick one-armed hug before following the boys hurriedly. Who knew what they'd get up to unsupervised?

Mrs Potter tried to pat Harry's hair down, before pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Ah, this brings back memories." She said wistfully looking around the Hall, clearly remembering back to her own days in the school. Harry nodded glumly.

He was going to be questioned, stared at and pointed at during the whole of the next term. He just knew it.  
And then people were going to start calling him The-Boy-Who-Dared. Who came up with these names anyway, he wondered angrily?

Yes he could tell that the next year was going to be bad. Oh, well at least they all thought he was a goody this time, he mused.

Iggy poked his head out and squawked for more Satsumas' and a boy at the nearest table gaped at the sight of the small bald bird.

Harry feed Iggy another slice of fruit before standing up. He'd lost his appetite.

"Where are you going Sweetheart?" Mrs Potter asked getting up as well.

"I just want to take a walk." Harry said, leaving the table. He could feel every eye in the hall following his progress to the door and walked through the doorway with a sense of relief. Mrs Potter followed quietly and they walked aimlessly through the castle corridors.

Harry startled at the sight of where they had ended up and then hit himself on the head.

He was so stupid, he thought.

He walked past the wall they were standing by three times before a door appeared.

"I didn't know that was there." Mrs Potter gasped surprised. She followed Harry into a large cathedral like room and gazed around in wonder.  
"Harry darling, where are we?" She asked.

Harry didn't hear her though, he was focusing solely on finding the object he was looking for. He finally spotted the cabinet he was using as his landmark and looked round wildly.

"Aha, found you!" He said triumphantly holding up a tiara. Mrs Potter glanced at it before patting his head.

"That's lovely dear. Did someone loose it?" She asked, making Harry look up in surprise he'd forgotten she was there.

"Er…no, it's just…eh, it belongs to Professor Dumbledore." He said finally, as she gave him a curious look

"Shall we return it to him then?" She asked making him nod, why not he wondered.

It would certainly be fun to explain this one away.

* * *

_**End of chapter.**_

_**Harry sure gets a lot of attention…mina**_


	15. Professor Malfoy

**_So here it is finally, sigh.  
Blushing as it would have come sooner if I hadn't gotten obsessed with somebody elses story...To recollect the future by: Olive . Snape . Really good story...  
Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews you sent: ) Mina _**

**Chapter 15**

**Professor Malfoy**

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Harry and Mrs Potter slowly walked towards the Headmasters office. Harry had stuffed the tiara into his other pocket as it gave him a dirty feeling holding it.

He was trying to think up a plan of action.

Should he pretend to have found it on an earlier exploration or just say he'd felt Voldemort evil presence close to it? He wasn't sure if either explanation was going to be a believable option to Dumbledore.

"Ah, there you are Dorea! I ran into Professor Slughorn, he has invited us down for a cup of tea." Mr Potter said walking towards them.

"Harry and I were just on our way to see the Headmaster actually, Harry found something belonging to Mr Dumbledore." Mrs Potter said, patting Harry's head fondly.

"Where are the boys?" She asked suddenly looking worried. The corridor behind Mr Potter was empty.

"I don't mind going up on my own, his office is just there." Harry said quickly, pointing to the gargoyle guarding the Headmasters office. He'd feel a lot better without her in the room. There was no telling how Dumbledore would react seeing the Horcrux after all.

"Oh, I'm not sure sweetheart. The headmaster said that we needed to take extra care with you." Mrs Potter said, glancing at her husband for advice.

"I'm sure Harry will be safe visiting with the Headmaster. James and Sirius are outside with the groundkeeper, Mr Hagrid. Why don't you join them when you're done?" Mr Potter suggested making Harry blink. Hagrid? Hagrid was here at Hogwarts, how could he have missed that, he wondered?

"Sure, will do." Harry said excitedly, forgetting the whole Horcrux business. He definitely wanted to see Hagrid again.

"That's sorted then, come on dear." Mr Potter said holding out his hand for his wife to take.

"The password is Knickerbockers glory by the way Harry." Mr Potter said shaking his head at the strange choice, Harry just grinned in response. Dumbledore was the same no matter where you met him. Past, Present, Future or in the After life.

Mr and Mrs Potter didn't leave the hall until Harry had made it in through the gargoyle.

Harry climbed the stairs slowly and took a deep fortifying breath before knocking on the door. He entered the office after hearing the call to come in and closed the door with a feeling of impending doom.

"Harry, my boy, what a pleasant surprise. How are you on this fine day?" Dumbledore asked cheerfully, beckoning for Harry to come closer. Harry, who felt as if he had a lump the size of an apple stuck in his throat, gave him a shaky smile in return.

"I er...found something that I think belongs to the school." Harry said quietly, before pulling the tiara out of his pocket. He all but threw it on the desk in his hurry to hand it over and it skidded to a stop in front of the bemused Headmaster.

There was complete silence as Dumbledore picket the tiara up and examined it. He passed it from hand to hand before looking up from it to stare at Harry.

Harry braced himself for the questions on how he had managed to procure a Horcrux.

"Where did you find this Mr Potter?" Dumbledore asked in a tone Harry hadn't heard aimed at him before. Well, not by Dumbledore.

"I er…there's a room…er…I found it in the Room of Requirement sir." Harry stammered out, under Dumbledores stern gaze.

"Harry I am most disappointed in you." The Headmaster said, glancing down at the tiara. Harry hung his head and nodded gloomily. He really hated disappointing Dumbledore, It always gave him a funny feeling in his stomach.

"I assume you know what this is? And that you have been using it?" Dumbledore continued in a stern voice. He looked up from the tiara and gazed at Harry with disappointment shining from his, non twinkling, eyes.

"I understand your thirst for knowledge Harry, but this is not the way to achieve it." He added, making Harry blink.

Harry looked up from his hands with confusion. What? He hadn't used the Horcrux! And how would it…oh…Harry eyed the tiara with a growing sense of giddiness. Was Dumbledore thinking what Harry thought he was thinking?

"I am grateful that you have come forwards with Ravenclaw's lost tiara. I will place it somewhere safe, away from the hands of children." Dumbledore said, making Harry nod. Good idea, keep it away from people, Harry agreed silently.

"I'm sure you will find it to be a relief to rid yourself of this burden." Dumbledore continued, passing the tiara from hand to hand again.

"Yes sir, I'm sure you're right." Harry agreed quietly, trying hard to sound as if he was very sorry indeed to have been using the tiara to further his intellect.

"Promise me that you will not come seeking the lost tiara again, Harry." Dumbledore said seriously, making Harry squirm in his seat.

"Knowledge comes by learning from our mistakes and triumphs, seeking shortcuts will not bring you true wisdom." Dumbledore continued, looking over the rim of his glasses, Harry nodded his head vigorously.

Dumbledore continued to stare at him with a piercing look.

"Yes sir, I'm very sorry." Harry hurried to say, trying hard to force his face into a more apologetic look. He hoped that he didn't look as ridiculously relived as he felt.

"Is there anything else I should know Harry?" Dumbledore asked, making Harry shake his head quickly. No they were good, that was all the headmaster needed to know at the moment. No need to add anything else to the conversation.

"No sir, nothing." Harry said, patting his moving cloak. Iggy was rooting around in his pocket restlessly, he'd woken up from his little nap it seemed. Fawkes flew over from his perch and sang a few soft notes for the new baby bird.

Harry bit his lip worriedly, maybe Iggy had been hurt more than he'd thought by the killing curse.

"Amazing creatures, Phoenixes. Your young friend here must care for you deeply to take on death for you, Harry. You should honour it by living well and doing good." Dumbledore said, gazing at Harry with somewhat softer eyes.

Harry nodded and gave Fawkes a pat of thanks before stroking the little baby Iggy in his pocket.

Dumbledore placed the tiara on his desk and wiped his hands on his robes absentminded, he eyed his hands curiously for a moment before looking up at Harry again.

"Now then, why don't you join your brother and Mr Black outside?" Dumbledore suggested, making Harry jump out of the chair. He definitely didn't want to be here any longer than he had too, Dumbledore was sure to realise just what he had lying on his desk, any moment now.

"Do try to stay out of trouble, my boy." Dumbledore added before Harry exited the room. Harry gave him a grin, not wanting to give empty promises, before running down the stairs.

He made it outside without being called back up to the office and took that as a good sign. He did wonder if he should have told Dumbledore about the tiara being a Horcrux but surely the Headmaster would figure it out on his own.

"Harry!" James called excitedly from outside Hagrid's hut, when he spotted Harry walking towards them. Sirius waved at him as well from next to the familiar sight of Hagrid.

"Hi, guys!" Harry called back, running to join them as they stood looking into a big bonfire.

"Look what Hagrid has got! Salamanders, aren't they cool!" Sirius said pointing out the lizards in the fire. Harry nodded and glanced up at a younger looking Hagrid.

"This is my brother Harry, Hagrid." James introduced, making Hagrid nod at Harry. Harry smiled winningly and asked Hagrid about the lizards.

The two boys had discovered Hagrid's joy of creatures and had been peppering him with all sorts of questions. Hagrid gave Harry a few odd looks before treating him just like the other boys. It felt like the good old days hanging out with Hagrid, Harry thought fondly.

The three boys were picked up at lunchtime from the hut, leaving Hagrid to get back to his duties. They promised to come back and visit soon again. Hagrid mumbled something about the forest and Harry wondered if he was about to go visit with Aragog or some other creature.

After lunch, the Potters and Sirius returned to Godrics Hollow after having been assured that the security had been tightened. Harry, James and Sirius would of course return to the castle again in just a few days time but it was nice to be back home again.

Getting on the Hogwarts express with the rest of the returning student was a bit of a shock for Harry. Yes he'd been stared at before, but it always did make him uncomfortable to have everyone staring at him.

He had been the first to hug his parents goodbye before dragging his trunk aboard the train this time. He found an empty compartment and decided to hide there until they reached school.

His peaceful hiding place was invaded shortly after the train started moving.

"Hi Harry!" Lily said, before throwing herself onto the seat next to him and giving him a quick hug.

"Someone said you were attacked during the holiday! Is it true?" She demanded whilst Severus seated himself on the seat opposite to Harry.

"Yes, Voldemort decided to visit." Harry muttered. Making them both stare at him for a moment.

"Is it true that you're in the wizard newspaper?" She asked next, making Harry nod reluctantly.

"I'm going to ask my parents if I can get a subscription." Lily said.

"Did you really duel him again?" Severus asked, speaking for the first time. Harry nodded glumly again.

Severus nodded once before pulling out a potions book from his pocket. Harry eyed the Slytherin fondly, trust Sev to not badger him for questions.

"But Harry, he's an adult! You could have been hurt!" Lily exclaimed horrified.

"Nah, Harry's really good at duelling." Sirius said calmly from the doorway, which he and James were blocking. Remus, who came up behind them, squeezed past and got seated on the other side of Harry.

Harry spent the journey back to school chatting about anything but the duel with his friends. They were constantly being disturbed by people getting lost, asking them if they'd seen someone or just generally staring at Harry.

By the time they left the train Harry was ready to hex someone, anyone would do. Dinner wasn't that good either, people were craning their necks to catch glimpses of him as he ate and a lot of fingers were definitely being pointed in his direction. Harry had left early after taking just a few bites of his food.

Luckily their dormitory was relatively safe, so that's where Harry hid out with Remus and Iggy. He wasn't that hungry anyway, dinner could wait for later or he'd just visit the kitchen once everyone slept. Remus distracted him with tales of how visiting his relatives had been like.

James and Sirius were more than happy to tell everyone about the night Harry duelled the Dark Lord and won. They made sure people knew just what a faker the evil lord really was. Most of the older students knew to take whatever the terrible duo said with a pinch of salt, but the second and third years lapped it up greedily.

By the next morning Harry was dismayed to hear, that he had in fact not only duelled Voldemort and all his Deatheaters but he'd also taught the Aurors a thing or two as well. He was also reputed to have had a fistfight with the minister if rumours were to be believed.

He sent the now very popular James and Sirius a glare and ate his breakfast quickly.

Harry glanced up at the Head table and found that both Dumbledore and Slughorn were giving him strange looks. Slughorn looked away quickly after giving Harry a small nod when Harry waved, which was odd. Had something happened between the professor and the Potters when they had their tea party, Harry wondered.

And had Dumbledore realised what the tiara really was?

The next couple of days proved to be remarkably like his second and fourth year. People would stop and stare, point him out to others and start whispering whenever he walked past. Harry figured he should be used to it by now, he had gone through all of this in his other life as well after all. He just hadn't expected to have Voldemort on his tail in this one too. Life really was unfair.

The most surprising reactions Harry had gotten so far, were from the Slytherins. Not one of them had made a bad comment about him, sure some of the older ones had given him calculating looks but on the whole they were the least pestering of all the houses.

Harry did feel rather apprehensive about joining them for Saturday revising but he wouldn't let something like Voldemort scare him away. He rather liked his time in the snake pit, it kept him on his toes.

Severus hadn't said not to come down, so Harry figured he would be relatively safe anyway.

He said the password and entered the lair, several heads turned and nodded at him but nobody raised their wands at him.

"We were unsure whether you would come down after your escapades this holiday, Mr Potter." Malfoy said, sidling up to walk Harry over to where Sev was seated.

"Oh, I wouldn't shun all Slytherins just because one of your house has decided to kill me. It wouldn't be nice of me, not after the way you welcomed me into your house." Harry said, gazing up at Malfoy earnestly. The rest of the house seemed to look at Malfoy as their unofficial leader so Harry had decided to suck up.

He noticed several of the other students relaxing slightly and Malfoy smiled down at him. Harry shivered slightly, for a moment there, Malfoy actually looked pleased with him.

"My dear boy! So sorry to hear of your troubles, so sorry indeed." Slughorn said, suddenly materialised from nowhere. The Professor had been very busy all week whenever Harry saw him and this really was the first time they had spoken properly since before the holiday. The man had been giving him odd looks and seemed to have been avoiding him slightly.

"Oh, I'm ok Professor, no damage done after all." Harry said lightly. Both Slughorn and Malfoy eyed him intently for a moment.

"Hi Sev, need any help?" Harry asked hoping Slughorn and Malfoy would take the hint and leave them.

"You know Mr Potter, I have been contemplating your situation carefully. I believe you would benefit from some tutoring yourself, from someone older and wiser of course." Malfoy said, much to Harrys growing horror.

Oh, please let this not be what he thought it might be.

"I am offering my services for the rest of my time here at Hogwarts, to help you reach your potential, which I believe to be great." Malfoy continued. Harrys stomach dropped. Great, Malfoy wanted to teach him the dark arts.

"A Malfoy knows talent and power after all." The blond added looking smug. Harry smiled hesitantly, how on earth was he supposed to say no thank you politely. He guessed that Malfoy's didn't offer their services lightly, he would have to tread softly so as to not offend the blond.

"That's very kind of you Mr Malfoy." Harry said slowly whilst trying to find better words than, no freaking way!

"That's sorted then." Malfoy said, before Harry had a chance to find better words. Malfoy looked immensely pleased with himself and Harry didn't dare say no. Not with the rest of the Slytherins looking on and Slughorn beaming at them happily.

"Well offered, Mr Malfoy! As you say, young Harry here is showing great potential. Why don't we leave the boys to their fun and discuss a teaching plan." Slughorn said, leading a smiling Malfoy away, from the now very nervous Harry. Malfoy's smile looked down right scary and Harry had visions of himself learning all kinds of twisted spells.

"Do you think he'd let me join you, Harry? I want to learn more spells too and Lucius is a great teacher!" Severus said looking envious. Harry who knew old Snape's love for the dark arts felt protective all of a sudden. His Snape was not growing up to be a dark arts lover! Not whilst he, Harry was around to stop it from happening.

Harry had to find a way of getting out of this tutoring and quickly!

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**_End of chapter  
So any thoughts? Anyone as apprehensive as Harry about Professor Malfoy? Muhahaha, poor Harry! Mina_**


	16. The Marked one

_Hi, new chappie: ) I'm on a roll at the moment…Thank you for all the nice reviews. Mina  
_**  
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**The marked one:**

January month was drawing to a close and Harry felt the month should have passed quicker than it had, considering how much that had happened.

He'd been caught out by Dumbledore, again, it was becoming harder and harder to keep his secrets from the man.  
Madam Pomfrey had asked him to come down for a chat and Harry thinking it would be one of their usual meetings had sauntered down happily.

He'd had a nasty surprise when entering the hospital wing though, as Pomfrey wasn't alone in the room.  
Dumbledore and Slughorn had stood waiting with her and Harry had felt his heart sink at the sight of them. Should he run he wondered or would that just encourage them to give chase?

"Why don't you come and join us Harry, dear." Pomfrey said softly, beckoning him closer to one of the beds. Harry had walked over stiffly and sat down on the edge of the bed indicated.

"Harry, Headmaster Dumbledore tells me that you found something very special during the holidays, which you handed in." Pomfrey said, looking at him with a slightly worried look. Harry noticed belatedly that both Dumbledore and Slughorn had their wands held softly by their sides.

"Er…yes." Harry stuttered, should he pull out his own wand now he wondered.

"If I may take over Poppy." Dumbledore said, earning himself the customary glare from the medi-witch.  
"Harry there was a terrible curse on the tiara and I have become worried for your safety. Did you or did you not use the tiara?" Dumbledore asked rather brusquely. Slughorn shifted nervously behind the headmaster and eyed Harry guiltily.

"I just picked it up. I didn't use it, I mean it's a tiara after all!" Harry protested. Dumbledore continued to eye him intently but Pomfrey and Slughorn both relaxed slightly.

"May I ask what it was that stopped you from using it?" Dumbledore asked, clearly still suspicious.

"Well…er…it felt yucky you know." Harry hedged, it had felt wrong after all. Dumbledore stared at him a second longer before nodding, looking slightly relieved ,he too.

"Yes, it did have a rather ominous feeling to it. Well I am glad that you weren't tempted by it. I must admit that it nearly drew me in, very clever curse it was!" Dumbledore said, much to Harry's horror. Dear Lord, had he almost killed the headmaster? He wondered.  
"I wanted to make sure that no lingering spellprints were on you, although the curse should have dissipated after I destroyed it." Dumbledore continued oblivious to Harry's feelings of shame.

"Sure." Harry said, it didn't feel like he had the option of saying no. Slughorn moved closer, looking curious to see what the spell would show.

"I'll just use a general dark arts detection spell, it will show up any signs of dark magic." Dumbledore raised his wand and tapped Harry on the head. Harry looked down at his hands which had started to glow, he looked slightly ghostly with the pearly white shimmer, there was a dark smudge on one of his hands though and he silently cursed Umbridge.

Both Professors and Pomfrey gasped making Harry look at the rest of his body and he noticed a multitude of dark splodges.

"Harry, did you use the tiara? Answer me truthfully!" Dumbledore demanded sternly.

"No, I didn't!" Harry protested earnestly.

"There is a very clear indicator that you have come in contact with the curse that was on the tiara." Dumbledore said, pointing at Harry's forehead.

"But I didn't use it!" Harry said again, confused. Dumbledore and Slughorn shared a look.

"Harry, my dear boy, have you had any spells of forgetfulness recently?" Slughorn asked carefully.

"No! why would I…" Harry trailed off. They thought he'd been possessed.  
"I can remember everything I've done this Christmas! And I didn't go near the tiara before now!" Harry said slowly and very clearly. He did not want them thinking that he'd been possessed by Voldemort.

"I'm sorry that you have been exposed to such dark magic's already, Harry." Dumbledore said, gazing at the dark marks marring Harry's shimmering body. Harry jumped off the bed and made it over to the bathroom where he stood inspecting himself, in front of the mirror.

His scar! There was a dark stain on his forehead and Harry realised that his scar was showing up as it had been a Horcrux. He also spotted where he'd been hit by the killing curses during the battle of Hogwarts.  
There were many smaller marks as well, dotted all about his body. Dumbledore gazed at him from the doorway.

"I just wanted to see what it looked like." Harry said, indicating the mirror.

"The crutiatus I believe, and the Imperious…" Dumbledore said, looking at the different spots before he sighed heavily.  
"I'm so sorry my boy." He said, tapping Harry's head again. The soft glow dissipated and Harry looked well and whole again, no marks to be seen anywhere.

He'd been excused after some prodding by Pomfrey and walked out of the hospital wing with Slughorn, who'd put his arm round Harry's shoulder.

"My door is always open Harry! Please do come and see me should you feel the need. I feel responsible…I…my door is open." Slughorn said gruffly, patting Harry gently on the head before walking off.

Harry knew the man was thinking of the time when he'd told a young, Tom Riddle about the Horcruxes and wondered if there was a way to make Slughorn admit the existence of more, to Dumbledore.

Not everyone was feeling gloomy though.  
James and Sirius were still riding high on the power, of having been at the fight of a lifetime. Harry caught them not once, not twice but probably a hundred times, telling the story of the great defeat to anyone willing to listen.  
He'd tried to talk to them about how dangerous it was to mock a dark lord, but they seemed to think he was being humble.

"What's the point of winning if you can't rub it in the losers face?" Sirius had asked, making James nod from the sideline. Harry had sighed heavily, dear lord but they were exasperating sometimes, could they not see that they were dealing with a Dark Lord here, not an every day rival? They would not be silenced however much Harry begged and threatened, they liked the attention far too much.

Remus was Harry's big rock, he stayed calm and collected throughout it all. He didn't ask too many questions or pester Harry to give him a run through of the curses he had used. He just chatted about normal stuff and was content to wait Harry out.

Harry temporarily forgot all about Voldemort, after receiving a letter from Belby who'd managed to isolate part of the werewolf curse whilst working with muggles.  
Belby wrote lyrically about the surprising genius of the muggles he'd met, whilst researching the muggle cure, he was in a scientists heaven it seemed.  
He wrote about DNA, something he'd never seen before. He'd been able to observe how a werewolves DNA changed at the time of the full moon, he wrote. Finding out that you could see into a persons inner being had been a breakthrough for the man.

Belby felt sure that a cure was going to be made in the near future and that they, Belby and Potter, would be its creators. He then offered Harry to become his future apprentice, talent like his should not be wasted after all.  
Harry wasn't that sure he wanted to work in a stuffy potions cellar and had hedged around the offer in his return letter, stating he was far too young to make such important decisions already.

Remus was delighted at the letter and its content and promised to help Harry find out just what the DNA malarkey was all about.  
Harry, who had gotten used to people thinking he knew all this stuff, didn't want to disappoint if he was asked a question. So he'd been down to see Madam Pince, who had been only too happy to help. The dear old lady sure was different from how he remembered her, Harry thought.

Whilst in the library during a research trip, Harry had spied two Slytherin seventh years whispering furiously in the far corner. Slytherins whispering often meant bad things were going to happen, Harry had found, so he'd had to sneak over and eavesdrop.

"…it's not that! But Malfoy isn't doing it!" One of the boys, a tall blond, whispered heatedly.

The dark haired one looked at his friend derisively.  
"He'd rather join a little firsty' Gryffindor and you're thinking of doing the same." He said mockingly.

"Honorary Slytherin, and my father has always told me to do what ever Malfoy does. Malfoy's have this sixth sense for surviving and if Lucius says he's not joining the Dark Lord, then neither am I!" The first boy said with finality. Harry eyed them mouth agape, was Malfoy really not joining Voldemort?

"So if Malfoy jumps of the astronomy tower you'd do the same?" The second boy mocked again, making the first one nod.

"Oh, yes! As I said, Malfoy's have the best survival instincts out of all the pureblood families. If he jumps there must be a bloody good reason for jumping." The blond said, making his friend and Harry stare at him in fascination.  
Were the Malfoy's really that influential, Harry wondered?  
Harry watched them both calmly leave the library, as if they'd not just been arguing whether to join Voldemort or not, and he got a sinking feeling in his stomach that he'd been right about the necessity of sucking up to Malfoy.

This meant there was no escaping his new tutor.  
If he could change the mind of even a few Slytherins, that joining the evil one was a losing bet, then surely Harry should take advantage of it. A Voldemort without followers was less scary, than a Voldemort with a bunch of Deatheater monkeys, Harry decided. Maybe he should buy Malfoy a little gift as a thank you, he wondered. Malfoy's liked trinkets right?

His first lesson with Professor Malfoy turned out to be far better, or worse depending on how you looked at it, than Harry had envisioned it to be. Severus had joined them in the end, as Harry hadn't been able to deny him after receiving soft stares for a week.

Malfoy had ended up teaching them about politics! Politics out of all things! How to build up connections and cultivate prospering relationships.  
Harry felt like scoffing at the blond, that was it? He had been worrying about having to learn the Crutiatus or other such spells and the blond wanted him to become the next minister of magic or something of a similar sort.

The blond had ambitions Harry found out, great ambitions to become a member of the Wizengamot, which Harry honestly thought the blond could achieve if he didn't join Voldemort. He was pretty sure that Malfoy had been kept out of the ministry before, simply because of the suspicion about his dark mark.

Harry had finally come to the realisation, that Malfoy's were a wholly unpredictable species, you thought they were dark and then they went and surprised you.  
And so were the Blacks for that matter.  
Narcissa Malfoy, or Black as she still was, had approached Harry after his first political class.

"Mr Potter." She'd greeted, after giving Lucius a quick glance.

"Miss Black." Harry had greeted back, after a moments hesitation. He stood and surprised himself by kissing her hand, where that had come from Harry didn't know but her face lit up at the gesture.

"That is my fiancé you're kissing Mr Potter!" Malfoy said, eyeing Harry approvingly.

"Maybe, for now." Harry joked back. He couldn't help it, he didn't have hate in his heart for Mrs Malfoy. She had been a mother just like his own, trying to protect her son the best way she could, Harry could respect that. Malfoy eyed him surprised for a second before smiling widely.

"Oh, what a charmer you are Mr Potter! My aunt speaks very highly of you, you know." Narcissa said, seating herself on the sofa next to Harry and Severus.  
"I am very sorry for the harm my sister nearly caused you, she has not been right since she started associating with the Lestrange family." She said, eying him with soft eyes. Harry felt like snorting, he was sure Bellatrix had been born evil but he managed to keep it in.

"Not to worry, miss Black. Sirius has told me only good things about his family and his parents have been ever so welcoming. I don't hold you responsible for what your sister did or does." Harry said, laying it on thick in case she went back home with tales of him. She eyed him for a moment before patting his cheek.

"Aunt Walburga was right about you, you are certainly someone we want as part of the family." She said, standing up. She gave Lucius a small nod and glided over to join her friends. Malfoy eyed Harry with a contented air and gave him an imperious nod before leaving him and Sev in peace.

"I thought he was going to teach us some spells." Sev complained, now that Malfoy was out of earshot, a Slytherin does not whine after all. Harry nodded in silent agreement, wondering what Narcissa had wanted, Slytherins never did anything for nothing after all.

_End of chapter.  
So no Killing curses or Crutiatus yet…Hope you liked the chapter. Many thanks for reading, Mina._


	17. A Wolf in Lions Clothing

_Hi I have now moved in with my sister, got three new jobs and a promise to start school next year…phew it's been and is hard work moving country…Sorry for the long delay, but it's been crazy.  
I will be starting slow and easy as I am working all the time at the moment. But I am continuing! The story is also slowly and lovingly being betaed for me : ) _

_Hope you like. Mina_

**A WOLF IN LIONS CLOTHING**

Chapter 17

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Spring had crept up on the school and Harry had caught no more than four couples snogging in the hallways as he went on his little walks round the castle.

Harry had been surprised at stumbling upon Frank Longbottom, who was a second year, one evening on his way down to the kitchen for a nightcap.

The slightly older boys hand had been in a very compromising position when Harry had stumbled upon him and a third year Ravenclaw girl.

Really, the other boy was only twelve!

Harry had been fifteen when he had his first kiss and he couldn't remember ever putting his hand where Franks had been.

Frank had begged Harry not to tell anyone about what he'd seen and Harry had shrugged, feeling a bit confused and wondering what Frank was worried would happen. Sure he would be in deep trouble if Professor McGonagall ever found out, but it wasn't the end of the world.

He'd found out what the secrecy was about when he had stumbled upon the same boy again a few days later, this time with a second year Hufflepuff.  
Harry had backed away before the fumbling couple spotted him and had left them to it in disgust. Wasn't one girlfriend at the time enough? Surely the girls would find out he'd been kissing them both. Girls were scary when angry so Harry vowed to stay far away from Frank for awhile.

As the weather was turning warmer Harry had started spending more time outside in the spring sun. He had his usual little group around himself, Severus and Remus being the core.  
James and Sirius would make their presence known whenever they came round asking for advice, with the prank of the century that they were planning to unleash at some point in the near future.  
Lily who spent most of her time with Alice would also come by to chat and do homework with them in the sun.

The teachers were slowly upping the game in class, they were also giving out more homework and as Sirius put it, expecting it to actually get done.

Harry and Sev's classes with Lucius were also progressing. They had moved on from the basic laws that all young wizards should be aware off and onto the essential topic of traditions.

Traditions were more important than wizarding laws according to Lucius.

"How is a wizard to move forwards if he doesn't know where he is coming from?" He'd said looking proud and regal.

"The Muggleborns are polluting our traditions and destroying our future." Malfoy said, making Harry's brows furrow.  
"I wish Hogwarts would emulate Durmstrang more. They learn far better spells and they don't allow muggleborn coddling. Father was going to send me there, but mother refused to let me travel so far from home besides it's really cold there." Malfoy said mournfully, reminding Harry of Malfoy Jr, who'd probably said something similar at some point.

"The Muggleborns wouldn't need to be coddled if someone taught them about the traditions and rules of the wizarding world. Hogwarts only teaches muggle studies which is slightly unfair." Harry pointed out, making Lucius blink.  
"Perhaps Hogwarts should have a mandatory class for Muggleborns so that they learn about this new world that they've just joined. It's not easy finding out that there is a whole other world out there and then be expected to know how to survive. I bet you wouldn't know what to do if you were left in the muggle world without a wand." Harry said softly, not wanting to annoy Lucius but make him see it from a different perspective.  
Lucius opened his mouth before leaning back in his chair with a pondering look on his face.

"You speak of educating them, forming them into functioning members of our society." Lucius muttered, not really speaking to Harry anymore.  
"That is inspiring, why the positives of such actions would be very beneficial. Politically it's a very sound idea too, one would seem more sympathetic and open." He continued looking up at the ceiling.

Harry and Severus left him to it when he failed to continue their lesson. Lucius looked lost in thought and didn't notice them sneak away to play a game of Gobstones with two other Slytherins.

Midway into April after a slow moving potions lesson, Harry heard his name being called after he'd made it halfway down the corridor.

"Mr Potter! Harry!" Harry turned as Professor Slughorn came rushing out from the classroom the students had just exited.

"Harry my boy, come quickly. I have a surprise in my office, very exciting business!" Slughorn said, rubbing his hands together.

"I have a Transfigurations lesson in ten minutes sir." Harry said, making Slughorn wave his hand dismissively.

"I have just spoken to dear Minerva and she has agreed to let you sit out on the lesson today. I told her that I believe we are to hear some good news. Now come along, we shouldn't let our guest wait. " Slughorn said winking at Harry.  
Harry gave Remus a shrug and followed Professor Slughorn as he led Harry away from the classroom and towards his own office. Harry wondered what had the professor all worked up.

They entered Slughorn's office and Harry caught sight of Belby seated by a table with a cup of tea.  
"Mr Potter, how lovely to see you again." Belby greeted standing up.

"You as well sir, how have you been getting on with your research?" Harry asked, sitting down where Slughorn indicated, excited to hear how the Belbys work was progressing.

"Oh, it has been remarkable! Muggles are truly fascinating, somewhat crude in their approach but truly fascinating." Mr Belby said with a delighted smile sitting down again.

"Well then my boy? You said you would divulge some very exciting news as soon as Mr Potter arrived. What is it?" Professor Slughorn asked, rubbing his hands together after bringing over a cup of tea for Harry and himself.

"We may have found a workable cure!" Belby said excitedly, making Slughorn gasp. Harry blinked stupidly.

"I knew it was something like this! A cure, are you sure?" Slughorn asked looking giddy.

"Yes we are sure, it has been a very exciting time I can tell you!" Belby said, sounding rather overwhelmed as if he couldn't quite believe what he was saying himself.  
"If you hadn't pointed me in the Muggle direction…well it was truly a stroke of genius. We had to keep it all very hush, hush of course, that's why I haven't been able to tell you the news until now." Belby said, gazing at Harry with damp eyes.

Harry was shell shocked, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
"You have a cure? A cure that takes away the werewolf transformations? Completely?" Harry whispered hoarsely. Belby nodded several times and smiled encouragingly as Harry sat open mouthed.  
"When can you start using it on people?" Harry asked after a short space of time.

"Well, we have some issues to resolve with certain aspects of the potion but there have been amazing results from two of our thirty-two trial volunteers." Belby said cautiously.  
Harry didn't think that two out of thirty-two sounded all that good.  
"The two people who showed a reaction to the potion were both administered within a period of forty eight hours of having been infected. The first patient was bitten in December and the second in February and neither of the patients has shown any symptoms yet." Belby said, blinking several times after revealing this and Harry's heart started beating fast.

"It's really working? They haven't turned into werewolves?" Harry asked in a hoarse whisper making Belby nod quickly.

"So far the potion only seems to work on patients with very recent bites though. It has not had any effect at all on werewolves who have been afflicted for a longer period." Belby said, watching as Harry's face fell slightly. The cure wouldn't work on Remus then, Harry thought heavily.

"My original potion is very successful at combating the effects one suffers during the full moon however. It has now been trialed on young adolescents too, with very good results." Belby added quickly, reading Harry's face correctly.  
"We will of course continue to work on the cure so that it can one day be used on long term sufferers." Belby said softly, digging in his bag for something. He pulled out a thin scroll which he held out for Harry to take.

"Thank you sir." Harry said accepting the piece of paper. He rolled it out and quickly read what it said on the top.

**Parental consent for the administration of the Wolfsbane potion to a minor**. Harry swallowed hard and carefully rolling the form up before slipping it into his pocket. He was glad that Remus would be able to at least have the Wolfsbane potion and perhaps the cure would be available for him soon.

"You made a cure." Harry said, feeling guilty for the disappointment that had coursed through him at first. The fact that Belby had managed to cure two werewolves was amazing and offered great hope for the future, it was possible that the affliction could be completely eradicated one day.

"I know." Belby whispered reverently with glossy eyes.

"So time seems to be the big issue? The more recent bites respond to the potion better and the long time sufferers don't get any effect at all." Professor Slughorn said intrigued.

"Yes we are trying to locate where in the potion we could make changes but it is all very complicated and I'm still not sure where it all went right." Belby said looking glossy eyed.  
"You'll be researching for years to come." Slughorn said looked glossy eyed he too.  
Harry blinked, feeling stupefied. It was all slowly sinking into his head, Belby had actually cured two people completely from ever having to change into hairy beasts every month.

"Well, this deserves more than tea! I tell you what, lets break into one of my special bottles. I'll be but a minute or two." Slughorn said moving towards the back of his office. Belby nodded happily before glancing at the somewhat shell shocked Harry.

Harry managed a small, shaky smile.  
"I'm really pleased Mr Belby. I'm just a bit shocked that it worked and that you were able to create a cure so fast." Harry said slowly, truly feeling awed by the mans ability.

"I can't believe it myself. All this possible thanks to some muggle medicine." Belby mumbled.

"One of my best bottles! Only the best is good enough today! You'll have a glass as well my boy." Slughorn boomed, before placing a brown, dusty bottle on the table and conjuring up three small glasses.  
He filled a glass for Harry with a golden liquid before raising his own into the air.  
"For the end of all werewolves and the genius of youth! May you both continue on your path to greatness and remember the humble man who guided you there." Slughorn saluted, before drowning his glass in one gulp. Harry followed the other two's example and drowned his glass in one gulp only to cough violently as the drink burnt down his throat.  
Belby snorted at Harry's wide, teary eyes and Harry noticed Slughorn trying to hide a smile.

"Ah, a boys first drink. I have probably spoiled you for all others now." Slughorn said proudly. Harry blinked furiously and tried not to breath as it made his lungs burn as if they'd been filled with acid.  
"A fine bottle, hard to find. You'll be looking long and hard for something like this again my boy." Slughorn said patting the bottle proudly, before offering Belby another glass. Harry hid his quickly, in case Slughorn decided to offer him a top up. He never wanted to drink that stuff again, it was worse than fire whiskey.

"What will you do with your share of the earnings, now then?" Slughorn asked Harry, making Belby nod.

"Yes I took the liberty of opening up an account in your name, as our potion has started to make a name for itself already. The Americans have been by and ordered a huge supply and I believe the Scandinavians were talking to my lab assistant as I was coming here." Belby said, accepting a third top up from Slughorn who still held onto the brown bottle.

Harry eyed them both confused.  
"What earnings?" He asked stupidly.

Belby sniffed and leant forwards.  
"A true philanthropist! It is an honour to be working with someone so pure. The patent wears both of our names Harry, you had as much a part as I did." Belby said before patting him on the head, wearing a dopey expression. Harry glanced at Slughorn who'd gone rosy cheeked.

"You'll both be rich my boy! The money from having made a cure to Lycanthropy is going to be rolling in! Every country is going to want its share of the cure." Slughorn said, lifting his fifth glass in a salute before drowning it. Harry eyed them both as they continued to clink their glasses together cheerfully.

"Can I make a fund for people who can't afford the potion? With my share that is." Harry asked, having made a quick decision. Belby eyed him for a moment in shock before nodding slowly.

"I will make certain that a charitable fund is set up for all those who can't pay for the potion themselves." Belby promised quietly staring at Harry strangely. Harry smiled feeling warm inside, he couldn't wait to tell Remus about the potion and the cure.

"I'm sorry sir but may I leave and tell my friend?" Harry asked patting his pocket with the form, receiving nods from both Slughorn and Belby.

Harry hurried through the empty corridors and entered the common room. There were a few seventh years seated in the armchairs reading heavy books, they gave him a glance before ignoring him in favour of studying for their upcoming N.E.W.T's.  
He climbed the stairs and entered the boys dormitory where he paced the floor nervously. He wasn't sure how to tell Remus about the cure when it wouldn't be applicable on him.

Sudden footsteps and chatter gave him a seconds warning before the door opened wide.

"…really hungry, Henry said that he would bring some cards to swap so I'm going to sit with him. Oh, hi Harry." Peter said trailing off at the sight of Harry standing in the centre of the room.

"Hi." Harry said absentmindedly staring at Remus nervously. Peter shrugged and dropped his books on his bed before leaving for lunch.

"What did Professor Slughorn want?" Remus asked as he carefully put his books away. Harry fidgeted and then sighed as he heard James and Sirius making their way up the stairs.

"Come on lets go and have lunch and I'll tell you all about it." Harry said, pulling Remus towards the door.

"Hi Harry, what did…hey! Where are you going? See you at lunch then I guess." James called after them as Harry dragged Remus down the stairs quickly.

Harry led a curious Remus past the Great Hall and down towards the kitchen where he hoped they would be left to themselves.

"Is this the kitchen where you met Professor Dumbledore?" Remus asked looking at the busy elves who were rushing about. Harry nodded and they were soon seated with loaded plates by a small table.  
"So? What did the professor want?" Remus asked again glancing up from his plate at the fidgeting Harry who took a deep breath.

"Mr Belby was there." Harry said feeling shaky.

"I thought that he might be." Remus said nodding knowingly.

"Mr Belby finished the Wolfsbane potion and he gave me a form for your parents to sign, so that you can start taking the potion." Harry said hurriedly.

Remus blinked and watched as Harry pulled out the form from his pocket.  
"He finished the potion?" Remus asked with big eyes. Harry nodded and handed the scroll to the other boy. Remus accepted the paper and gave it a cursory glance before eyeing Harry again.

"I want to tell you about the cure too." Harry said slowly, making Remus blink.

Harry filled Remus in on what Belby had said as they ate their lunch very slowly. He'd been right to think that Remus would be pleased with the news even if he himself might have to wait years for a cure.

* * *

_Ok, so not very long, but it has been awhile and I just need to get warmed up again: ) hope you like? Thanks for being patient with me. Mina_


	18. The Voice in the Dark

_Hi all, so it's been a long time coming. Again...  
I feel bad but it really is manic at the moment. I have three jobs and I live with my sister and nephew, not a lot of free time.  
Along with all my friends wanting to catch up now that i'm living in the same country...list goes on and on...  
The story is ongoing and will be updated, just not very quickly. Thank you SO much for your understanding and patience. Mina  
_  
THE VOICE IN THE DARK 

* * *

The full moon was almost upon them and Remus who'd been approved to start on the Wolfsbane potion, was becoming a bundle of nerves as they counted down the hours until it was time for him to go.  
"It's ok if it doesn't work." Remus said for the hundredth time and Harry sighed.

"It's going to work. You'll remember everything and you'll be in full control, everything is going to be fine." Harry said reassuringly for the hundredth time in responce.

"I'm just scared to believe…" Remus whispered looking lost.

"It'll be fine." Harry whispered back.

Remus glanced at his watch and gave a shaky sigh.  
"It's time, I need to go." He said standing up.  
Harry gave him a reassuring hug and watched as he left the dormitory. Remus had asked Harry to not walk him down to the infirmary.

Harry could only stay and hope that the potion lived up to Remus expectations. He really hoped it would work and that Remus came back happy.

There had been a few articles in the Daily Prophet about the cure and the potion but it hadn't been given as much attention as Harry had thought it would.  
A ministry employee, from the department for the regulation and control of magical creatures, had made some statements about waiting to see what the impact of Belby's work was going to have before any further decisions were made by the ministry.  
But he had hinted at a possible tax reduction program for employers of werewolves, which had been much talked about. Everyone seemed to be very cautious about making any definitive statements. Only time would tell what the future looked like.

Harry didn't care as long as the people who needed the potion or cure got it.

Their end of term tests had started.  
Well the older students had started and there was an air of nervousness that made Harry's skin itch. It wasn't that long until the year ones would start their tests.  
Harry wasn't worried about his own test results as he'd feel rather stupid if he got anything less than an E in all his subjects. He had after all done it all before, even though his practical work still played up. It was as if his magic had de-aged as well, along with his body. He had al the knowledge in his head but the spells wouldn't always come out right, unless he was under real duress like when he'd duelled Voldemort at Christmas.

He was worried about James and Sirius however as he'd yet to see them open a schoolbook. Let alone practise any spells.

Making his way downstairs to the common room he spotted the two boys in a corner whispering. As he made it over, Sirius excused himself to go to the loo and Harry was left with a squirming James.

"I'm worried about the exams Harry. Mum and dad will be so disappointed if I fail at something." James whispered looking sad.  
"Can you help me please?" He asked looking up at Harry pleadingly.

"Er, sure." He said, surprised that James actually wanted to study and that he Harry hadn't been forced to make him.  
"I know of a room where we can practise actually, come on." Harry continued, hoping that he wasn't making a mistake.

"Now? Er, ok, hang on a moment." James shot up the stairs and returned moments later carrying some parchment.

"Is Sirius not coming?" Harry asked surprised when the other boy wasn't following.

"Nah, he doesn't like studying." James said, struggling to fit the rolls into his pocket.  
Harry tapped them and shrunk them into a more manageable size.  
"Neat! Can you teach me that spell?" James asked as he followed Harry out through the portrait.

"Sure." Harry said, feeling slightly worried at this new James. James smiled brightly and chattered all the way to the seventh floor, seemingly not paying any attention to where they were.

"Close your eyes." Harry ordered , not quite comfortable about James knowing where something as useful as this room was. He shuddered at what he and Sirius could think up in there. James closed his eyes reluctantly and Harry made sure the other boy didn't see a thing as he quickly got the door to appear.

"Neat!" James breathed as they entered the room.

"So, what do you need help with?" Harry asked, moving towards one of the armchairs he'd wished for.

"Um, well I'm not that good at potions. I want to learn that colour potion." James said, making Harry nod. Harry summoned a potions book from the bookcase.  
"Can you teach me that spell too?" James asked, pleadingly.

"Let's learn one thing at the time." Harry answered getting a pleased smile in return.

An hour later, Harry called the potion making to a stop. He was covered in green goo and James was itching his left arm like mad.  
"Erm, why don't we move on to spells." Harry suggested, to James obvious relief.

"Let's see. Stunners are probably going to be in the test." Harry said before cleaning them both.

"Can you teach me that spell too?" James asked at once making Harry roll his eyes.

"Lets just stick to stunners at the moment." Harry suggested.

"But I already know how to stun people." James protested.  
"Teach me that summoning spell instead." He asked.

"It's a bit hard to learn." Harry said, before sighing at the heartbroken look on James face.  
"Fine, watch me." Harry said.

James seemed to have no problem learning the spell. He got the pillow, that Harry was pointing at, to wriggle on his first try and by the time they stopped, it was dragging itself towards them on the floor. Harry was impressed, it had taken him ages to learn the spell with the help of Hermione.

"That was really good James." Harry praised, getting a blinding smile in reward.

"Can we practice more spells? Please!" James begged excitedly.

"Well not tonight, we're already breaking curfew." Harry said in surprise, after checking the time. James looked delighted.

"You mean we have to sneak back to the tower without being caught?" James gushed rubbing his hands together.  
"Brilliant." He whispered.

Harry sighed as he led the over excited James down the hallway.  
"Will you be quiet." He hissed as James once again started gushing about how exciting it was to walk through the deserted hallways.

A sudden clanking noise further up the hall brought them to a halt.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." A voice beckoned from the dark shadows. Harry swore silently to himself as he pushed James into an empty classroom.

"That's Peeves, we really don't want to get his attention." Harry muttered, glancing at James who looked rather pale all of a sudden.  
"It's fine, he won't hurt us." Harry said, making James relax slightly. There was a snick from the door and evil cackling that got fainter as time went on. After a while of nothing happening Harry moved over to the door and tried the handle.  
"Locked." He muttered and tried to unlock it before kicking the door hard, when it proved impossible.

He looked around the room they'd entered and swore. James blinked and couldn't help but let a nervous giggle escape.  
"You just swore, like really swore." He pointed out unnecessarily making Harry roll his eyes.  
"Mum will spell your mouth full of soap if she ever finds out what you just said." James grinned.

"Are you going to tell her then, because I'm pretty sure she'd do more to you if we started talking about who is the naughtier one." Harry pointed out, making James stop grinning.  
"Now unless you want to sleep in here we need to think of a plan to get out." Harry said, making James nod slowly.  
Harry paced the room several times before stopping at the far side in the shadows.  
There was a carved snake on one of the floor tiles in the corner. He glanced at James who stood gazing at the door in concentration, obviously trying to think of a way out.

Harry bent down and hissed. Nothing happened and he was about to swear again when a small crack appeared. He backed away quickly and watched as a staircase was revealed leading downstairs.

"Can you teach me that spell as well? That's so cool!" James said moving closer, looking awed. Harry looked down into the dark and shrugged noncommittally.

"Come on, let's see where it leads us." He said, pointing his wand at the dark stairs. A beam of light lit up the stairs and Harry followed slowly.

"Harry…can you teach me that light spell too." James asked when they had gotten halfway down.

"Say Lumos." Harry instructed, rolling his eyes as James got it on his first try.

"Neat." James whispered before gasping when the opening above them closed. His light disappeared and he moved closer to Harry.

"It's ok." Harry said, reassuringly, hoping he was right.  
They finally reached the bottom and followed the dark corridor they were in, as it snaked its way forwards.

"Lumos." James whispered after they had walked in silence for a while. His grin when the light burst forth from his wand made Harry smile too.  
Their corridor soon split into two. One path had a staircase leading up and the other continued in the darkness.

They choose the one leading up and Harry smiled when he peeked out behind a tapestry at the top.

"Come on, we'll soon be in the common room." Harry whispered, realising that they were close to the great hall. James looked relieved to be out of the darkness and followed Harry quietly up to the common room.

"Where were you? I thought you'd been caught or something." Sirius scolded as they entered their dorm.

"It was so cool!" James exclaimed, pulling Sirius towards his bed. He filled Sirius in on his adventure embellishing it as he went along and Harry rolled his eyes before disappearing into the showers.  
Honestly, it hadn't been that big of a deal. Although he was rather chuffed at having found a new secret pathway.  
He would have to explore where the other path went at some later time.

James and Sirius were still seated on the bed when he got out and Harry sighed at the look on their faces.  
"Can you teach me some spells too?" Sirius pleaded before whooping at Harrys nod.

"Not now though, I need some sleep." Harry said quickly at Sirius eager look, before crawling under the covers. Iggy who sat staring down at him from the canopy above snickered and Harry had a feeling he was going to regret having said yes to being their teacher.

Harry spent the next week in a haze.  
Remus had come back from the full moon in triumph. The potion had worked and he'd been in charge the whole time, he wouldn't stop thanking Harry who was feeling rather embarrassed at the praise. He hadn't had anything to do with the potion after all.

James and Sirius kept pestered Harry to teach them every spell he knew.  
Harry found them to be frighteningly determined to learn, now that they'd started. James had mastered the summoning spell and now wouldn't stop summoning things from everyone, much to their displeasure. He kept out of the seventh years paths though after they had summoned him into their dorm, in revenge for the books he'd nicked. Lesson hard learnt it seemed.

Sirius had picked up the enlargement spell on his first go and now used it on every bug he could find.  
Having found an enormous woodlice in his bed one morning, had made Harry seriously considered quitting, but James plea to help him pass his exams had softened his resolve. Sirius had been warned though and seemed to be taking it to heart, well, Harry hadn't seen any large bugs since warning him at least.

Malfoy had caught him in the library one afternoon and Harry had been forced to research all the most prominent pureblood families and their charitable works.  
"A pureblood must be seen to do their duty." Malfoy intoned in his most regal voice. Harry who agreed that you should help those who needed it, had suffered quietly.

He'd been surprised when Malfoy told him that he was planning to put together a proposition for a future class, educating Muggleborns of wizarding customs at Hogwarts. He was making it into a little project to earn extra curricular points.  
Professor Slughorn had given it his full approval and had also praised Malfoy greatly for his forward thinking and sound judgement in choice of a subject to research.  
The research would look good on his future leaving papers along with his grades, and might come in use if he wanted a work within the ministry.  
Malfoy had been given a big ego boost it would seem.  
Harry was delighted as long as he could stay out of it. He really didn't want to spend extra time with the blond, other than the time he already endured.

By the time they'd finished their first exam Harry was exhausted. He now had not only the two boys as his study students but Lily, Alice and Severus had all begged in as well.  
Remus was snapping up knowledge too as Harry had drafted him in as his assistant. Which meant that he was teaching Remus first so that he could help teach the others.

When they were let out from their practical Transfiguration test Harry was called to stay behind.

"How are you getting along Mr Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked eyeing him fondly.

Harry suffered a moment of panic at the thought of having failed the test before realising that he knew he'd done well.  
"I'm fine, professor." He answered wondering why she was keeping him behind.

"I heard a rumour of a little study group, with you as a teacher. I thought ten points to Gryffindor were in its order." Professor McGonagall said smiling at him proudly.  
Harry blushed at the praise and shrugged before slinking out of the room.

He made it down to the great hall for a well deserved dinner and froze in the doorway.

There was an enormous roast chicken on the Ravenclaw table and the carrots on the Slytherin table kept jumping tables before dropping down dead. The Hufflepuffs were all cornered by growling potatoes and the Gryffindors were fighting an onslaught of green gravy pouring out of their glasses.

Harry blinked before sighing. He searched the room for the two delinquents responsible, but couldn't see them anywhere.  
He turned with a shake of his head and headed for the kitchen, leaving the mess for the teachers to sort out, he really was starving. He'd talk to the boys about how they used what he was teaching them later.

"Hi, can I have some food?" Harry asked the house elves hopefully as he entered their kitchen. 

* * *

_Hi hi...naughty james and sirius using harry to gain knowledge... not sure what else they might come up with, but McGonagall should be afraid...very afraid...muhahaha...Hope you liked. Mina_


	19. Chapter 19

**_Hi all, here is the next and last instalment for this year, already writing the first chapter of the sequel.  
HP and the phoenix ashes. I have planned the whole story out already. ( So happy, I have five days off work and then i'm back on again...)  
I hope you all have a great holiday, I will! : ) Much love to all and thank you for reading. Mina_**  
**  
THE END**

* * *

"I can't believe that we only have one more test to do" Remus said, leaning backwards against the tree trunk, looking up at Iggy who sat preening his feathers on a high branch.  
They had all finished for the day and were now outside enjoying the afternoon sunshine.

"I am so tired of tests!" Lily groaned, kneeling behind Alice, who sat making a daisy chain.

"I think that they're kind of fun." Alice said absentmindedly, wincing when Lily accidentally pulled too hard on the braid she was making.  
"If you study for them." She added, shrugging at the looks she was getting.

"They were kind of fun." James agreed after a while, looking at the pink haired Sirius.

"Yes, we learned loads from Harry, so they weren't that hard." Sirius said, throwing some grass at James's blue hair.

"Well, we'll see if I teach you anything new, ever again." Harry said, paging through the discarded Daily Prophet he'd found. He was relieved to find that there were no major news happenings. The forthcoming election was getting the most space. There was an article of interest about the dangers of being an Auror and another on how the ministry would be looking over some of its spending.  
Harry figured it all had to do with the parties wanting to make themselves look good before next year. The first opinion polls were to be conducted in late July so there was a lot of promising going on.

"Sure you will." James said, making Harry shake his head slowly.  
He wondered how long he was going to leave them with the coloured hairdos, especially as they actually seemed to like it. He'd thought they'd learn a lesson from walking around being pointed and laughed at, but they only seemed to thrive at all the attention. If he wasn't so scared of what they might do, he'd make them invisible just to see if that would make an impact on them.

Both boys shrugged at him, looking unconcerned.

"I know how to make people invisible." Harry taunted, taking great pleasure from the indrawn breaths coming from them.

"No you don't!" James protested half-heartedly, eyeing him with a worried frown.

Harry smiled and bent forwards, tapping Remus on the head. The rest of the group all gasped as the boy slowly faded out of sight.  
"Ew, gross Harry! That felt as if you cracked an egg on my head." Remus said, making Sirius turn and eye Harry pleadingly.

"Harry I am so sorry! Please, please teach me more spells!" The pink haired boy begged.

"Only if you'll promise not to do any more pranks." Harry said, raising his brows at the pained look on Sirius face.

Sirius squirmed before deflating onto his back on the grass.  
"I told you we shouldn't have used any of the spells he taught us!" Sirius groused, glaring at James who shrugged.

"We'll just ask Remus next time we see him, I bet we can convince him to help if Harry's not around." James said, before jumping from fright when a book was thrown his way.

"Still here!" Remus voice said, sounding somewhat insulted.

Harry smiled before using a finite on him, bringing him back into sight.

Sirius eyed Harry pleadingly again, before throwing more grass at James with a furrowed brow.

"I want to be invisible too." He grumbled.

"Harry promise to never, ever teach either of them that spell!" Lily said, ignoring the look cast her way from the pouting Sirius.  
"They will cause even more trouble if they know how to disappear from sight." She added, repelling the grass sent her way with a flick of her wand.  
Sirius spat out the grass from his mouth and stood up with a disgusted glare. James hurried to catch up with his friend, who stalked off in a tiff and Lily giggled.

"I learnt that one all by myself." She said proudly, standing up.  
"Do you want to go and play with Maria's kittens?" She asked, making Alice's face light up.

"They are so cute!" Alice gushed, putting the daisy chain on her head. They said goodbye before rushing towards the castle, leaving Harry and Remus alone in the sunshine.

"Can you teach me that spell?" Remus asked after a short silence. Harry nodded, putting the paper away and they spent the time outside practicing the spell.

Harry thought fondly on how he had learnt it from the late Moody and Hermione.

It was the last Saturday of term and Harry slowly made his way down to the snake pit. They only had one more week of school before the summer holidays started and had finished their last test the day before.

Lucius Malfoy had cornered Harry in the library on the Wednesday, as he'd been studying for the test, and had demanded Harry's presence down in the Slytherin common room for a last study session.  
Harry wondered what Malfoy was going to talk about this time and whether or not he'd assign any homework for the summer. The small amount he'd already received from the teachers was enough for him, he was looking forwards to a lazy summer.

"Nightshade." Harry mumbled, making the door appear. He nodded at the greetings he was receiving from the gathered students, and made it over to where Lucius and Severus sat.

"Good, there you are." Malfoy greeted, looking happy at the sight of him.  
"Finished all your tests?" The blond asked, pulling out two thin scrolls. Harry nodded and shot Severus a worried look.  
"Good, because Professor Slughorn thought I should check whether or not you both have learnt anything." He added, handing them a scroll each.

Harry groaned at the sight of the questions on the paper.  
Name the most affluent wizard of our time? What should a respectable wizard always remember in court? Why are the laws meant to be challenged?  
The test had twenty questions, all of them demanding full sentence answers.  
Malfoy leaned back in his chair looking very pleased with himself.

"I have a book for you both to read during the summer too. I wouldn't want you to loose any of the knowledge I've imparted, after all." Malfoy said, once they had started writing.  
Harry kept calm, even though he felt like shoving the scroll down the blonds throat.

"I don't understand why we had to do a test." Harry grumbled after they'd escaped a last lecture, thanks to Narcissa taking pity on them.  
"And I really don't understand why I answered any of the questions in the first place." Harry said feeling confused. He really should have asked the blond to stuff the test somewhere the sun didn't shine.  
Severus snorted as he followed Harry to the door.

"Maybe because he knows more spells than both of us put together. Besides, I heard Professor Slughorn tell Lucius to give us a surprise test last Thursday. So it wasn't his fault, really." Severus said from besides the closed common room door.

"Why didn't you warn me, if you've known for days about the test?" Harry asked, making Severus shrug.

"I didn't think you needed to study, you already seem to know everything." Snape said, ignoring Harry's glare.

"I helped you with all your tests." Harry pointed out, thinking back on how much time he'd spent on helping his little study group get ready.

"I guess I owe you one, next term." Severus said lightly, making Harry growl.

"You just wanted a better score on his test!" Harry accused, bringing a blush to Severus sallow cheeks.

"Did not." The other boy sniffed, before leaving Harry to make his own way out of the common room.

Harry quickly left, after attracting Lucius roving eye. He really didn't want to go through the test again, to find out where he'd gone wrong. If an E was good enough for Harry, it would have to be good enough for Malfoy.

A week later and the students were all boarding the Hogwarts express, ready to go home for the summer.

Harry tried in vain to spot Remus, who'd been pulled to the side by Madam Pomfrey up at the school, but had to get on the train when the final whistle blew. He entered the compartment which James and Sirius had claimed, to find Sirius looking very glum.

"They won't be angry with you! You got an A in history, so what!" James was saying, clearly trying to cheer him up.

"Yes they will, they said that they were expecting at last E's in all the subjects." Sirius grumbled, as he slumped even further in his seat.

"I got an A in history too." Harry pointed out, not really bothered. Binns was as boring as ever and the names of all the goblins still made Harry's head go round. Sirius blinked, looking surprised at his words.

"You got an A? But James got an E, that means he did better than you." Sirius said, sharing a look with James who looked delighted. Harry shrugged, really not bothered, perhaps it would be a good incentive for them to study more if they thought they could do better than him.  
They were under the misguided belief that he was a genius, when Harry knew for a fact that he was nothing but ordinary, just a few years ahead of the curriculum.

Sirius looked a bit happier after that and they sat chatting about Quidditch until the compartment door slid open.  
"Hi guys!" Remus said, sliding in with a bright smile. Harry smiled back, glad that the other boy had made it on board after all.

"You ok?" Harry asked, once Remus was seated next to him and the other two boys were back on their Quidditch topic.

"Yes, I'm great! I just got some papers, so that I can get out you-know-what during the summer." Remus said cryptically, winking at Sirius puzzled look.

"You're getting what out during the summer." Sirius asked, eyeing the twin smiles on Harry and Remus faces with worry.  
"I really don't like it when you smile like that! It looks really wrong on you guys." He added, shuddering slightly.

"Extra homework of course!" Harry and Remus said as one, sticking to their normal excuse.

James rolled his eyes at them.  
"As if you'll have time for more homework." He said, making them all eye him confused wondering what they'd be so busy doing.  
"The parties, hello!" James exclaimed, eyeing them as if he couldn't believe they'd forgotten. He and Harry had a joint one coming up, seeing as James hadn't been able to celebrate properly at Hogwarts. And then there was Sirius party, shortly followed by little Regulus who turned eleven.

"Oh yeah! The parties, how could I forget?" Sirius said, smacking his own forehead.  
"My party is in the park again!" Sirius said with a grin, making James light up.

"I love the park!" James gushed, sounding thrilled.

"What's so special about the park?" Harry asked, somewhat bemused by James's reaction.

"You'll see!" Both boys said in chorus, snickering at each other.

"Mum said that I could go to yours and James party." Remus said contently, from next to Harry who smiled.

"I wonder if you guys will get two cakes." Sirius pondered, making James lick his lips.  
A soft knock on the compartment door made them all look up.

"Can we join you?" Lily asked, before entering without waiting for an answer.  
Alice and Severus followed and the compartment suddenly felt a bit smaller.

Lily and Alice sat chatting about the summer, Lily had been invited over for a weeks play which they were very excited about.  
Severus had pulled out a potions book and occasionally sat glancing at Lily longingly, before catching himself and resuming his reading.  
James and Sirius sat planning more pranks, making Harry regret having removed the charm on their hair. Not that it seemed to have had any effect on them.  
Remus and Harry sat playing a game of exploding snap cards with Iggy perched on the luggage rack above them.

"Are you going to try out for Quidditch next term?" James suddenly asked Severus, who looked surprised at the question.

"No, I don't like playing Quidditch." Severus sniffed, eyeing them disdainfully over his book.

"I'm going to try out!" Lily said brightly, before eyeing the serious looking James confused.

"You can't try out! You're a girl!" James protested, making Harry's brows rise. Oh lord, not the whole girls are inferior to boys stuff again, he thought silently. He had thought that the boys had grown out of it.

"Can too! I like flying and Mr Perry said I had some talent." Lily retorted, looking insulted at his dismissal.

"It's too rough for girls, you'll get hurt!" James said, looking worried at her continued glares.

"Girls can play if they want to, they can handle it just as well as any guy." Harry said, trying to mediate. He'd never once felt worried about whether or not Angelina or any of the other girls on the team could handle it. James eyed him surprised.

"But she might get hurt!" He said, looking around at the other boys for support.

"She's not scared of heights at all and she can do whatever she wants." Severus said, grudgingly joining the conversation.  
Lily's grateful smile made him sit up straighter in his seat and he looked pleased that he'd made the comment.

Lily ignored James for the rest of the trip to London in favour of resuming her chat with Alice. Clearly not impressed with his reasoning when it came to girls.

By the time they got off the train and stood surrounded by their trunks, all arguments were forgotten however.  
Lily and Severus left first, having spotted Lily's father who was taking them both home, seeing as they lived so near to each other.  
"See you at the party!" Lily called as they disappeared in the crowds.

Remus parents were next to arrive and after giving their son a hug, Mrs Lupin grabbed Harry in a tight embrace.  
"Thank you Harry dear." She mumbled into his ear. Harry shifted embarrassed, but was spared making a comment by the arrival of the Potters.

"My little boys! I've missed you both so much!" Dorea gushed at the sight of Harry and James before grabbing hold of them both tightly.

"Now, now dear, leave some for me." Charlus chided with a smile, ruffling their hair as they were released.  
"Why I think you've both grown since we last saw you." He added, making James stand straighter under his fathers gaze.

"Dorea, how lovely to see you again." Mr Black said, having snuck up on them, without anyone noticing. He gave Sirius a small nod of the head in the way of greeting and then turned to Mr Potter.  
"Charlus, how goes the warding?" He asked, making Mr Potter sigh tiredly. The men started up a conversation whilst the boys said goodbye to Remus.

"I'll see you before the party." Remus said, looking excited. He was coming for a weeks stay before travelling to Italy with his parents.  
Harry waved as the Lupins made it over to the barrier and walked through.

"Are you boys ready to go home?" Dorea asked, prompting Charlus to levitate their trunks. Sirius and his father got ready too and they all left together.

Harry couldn't wait to get home, he had a whole summer of fun lined up.

* * *

**_Ok, so it is very odd to write about summer when I have loads of snow outside. Well i'm off sledging with a, very sugar high, four year old. His mum allowed him to take some chocolate, he took the whole box into his room and now won't eat lunch. Sigh...  
Merry X-mas and a happy new year to all. Mina_**

THE NEW STORY IS NOW OUT, Hp and the Phoenix Ashes. 


	20. Chapter 20

Hi just wanted to post a note to say that the sequel is out.  
I did post a little note in the last chapter but not everyone has noticed it….  
Story is called:

HARRY POTTER AND THE PHOENIX ASHES

Thank you to all the lovely people who have posted encouraging comments and generally given me a kick you-know-where when I've been slow to up-date.  
Hope to see your names on reviews there too : )

Much love Mina


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